Serie A: Juventus and Atalanta Set for Huge Turin Clash

Juventus vs Atalanta

The Serie A game between Juventus and Atalanta is one of the top matches to check out this weekend, as these two sides are battling for the coveted top four berths.

Right now, Juventus have the upper hand since they’re in third place with 37 points, but Atalanta are not far behind since they have 34 points despite being in sixth.

Juventus could’ve narrowed the gap against pacesetters Napoli when they met them last Saturday, but they were humbled at the Diego Maradona Stadium with a scoreline of 5-1.

Atalanta, on the other hand, have started the new year right by churning out positive Serie A 2023 results against sides who are in the lower half of the standings.

Needless to say, this is a huge matchup for these two top-four hopefuls, so read on below as SBOTOP offers a preview for this contest.

 

Talking Points

Juventus’ youngsters providing the spark

After losing to Napoli last weekend, Juventus didn’t have much time to rest for their Coppa Italia Round of 16 tie against Monza, so Max Allegri reshuffled his starting XI.

Allegri deployed a 3-5-1-1 formation with Moise Kean leading the line. Fellow youngsters Nicolo Fagioli Fabio Miretti, Samuel Iling-Junior, and Matias Soule all got to start as well.

Moise Kean got on the board for his fifth goal of the season when he scored after eight minutes, but Mattia Valoti answered back from a corner kick 16 minutes later. Kean could’ve had a brace if his later goal wasn’t disallowed.

But the hero for Old Lady was Federico Chiesa, as the Italian winger hit the winner in the 78^th minute – his first goal for the club after 378 days following a torn ACL.

I Bianconeri are through to the Coppa Italia quarter-finals, where they’ll host Lazio on February 2^nd.

Prior to the bad loss against Napoli, Juventus had been picking up steam after a terrible start to the 2022-23 campaign as their injury situation has eased up, and Allegri is hoping that they’ll have a clean bill of health moving forward.

 

Huge blow for Atalanta’s midfield

Gian Piero Gasperini will have to rotate his squad as they’ve lost two key midfielders this past week.

Teun Koopmeiners is out against Juventus after picking up his fifth yellow card against Salernitana, while Ruslan Malinovskyi has been loaned out to Ligue 1 side Marseille. 

Malinovskyi’s loan deal has an option to buy, so if he does well at Marseille, then Atalanta would essentially lose him for good this summer.

Koopmeiners has been one of the best players for Atalanta this season, notching six goals and three assists thus far. He has linked up well with top scorer Ademola Lookman (nine goals) and Marten de Roon.

With Koopmeiners out, Gasperini will likely replace him with Ederson, while Jeremie Boga is another candidate to start.

La Dea enters this game in high spirits, having beaten their last two opponents by an aggregate score of 13-4 earlier this week – 8-2 against Salernitana in Serie A and 5-2 against Spezia in the Coppa Italia Round of 16.

Like Juventus, Atalanta are through to the Coppa Italia quarter-finals, where they’ll host Inter Milan on January 31^st.

 

History

Juventus have been utterly dominant in their head-to-heads against Atalanta, winning all 13 of their previous meetings. But since then, they have drawn seven of their last 11 Serie A games against Atalanta (two wins each).

The Old Lady has only lost one of their last 25 Serie A home games against Atalanta (W18, D6). The said defeat was their most recent one—a 1-0 loss in November 2021.

Atalanta have gone undefeated against Juventus in their last five Serie A meetings and could remain undefeated in six straight for only the second time in their top-flight history. They last did this from 1963 to 1966, when they also stayed unbeaten for six games in a row.

 

Betting Tip

Matches between Juventus and Atalanta have been generally close, which is why they are not far off from each other in the Serie A 2023 odds. For this game, Juventus are slightly priced higher at 2.19, while Atalanta are installed at 3.25 in the 1X2 market.

We might see another 1-1 draw just like in their previous meeting in February, and it’s going to be a heated affair at Turin. In addition to a draw at 3.35, Total Goal 2-3 @ 1.90 and Over 2.25 @ 1.79 are available for this contest. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to choose either of those alternatives.

 

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