Serie A: Atalanta Aim to Continue Their Roll Versus Napoli

Napoli vs Atalanta

Two of the top teams in Serie A are set to lock horns as Napoli will get to host the streaky Atalanta club in the Stadio San Paolo Stadium on Thursday.

I Nerrazzurri have been on a roll as of late, as they are undefeated in their last five fixtures. Team manager Gian Piero Gasperini has done a superb job on guiding his squad so far.

Meanwhile, Napoli have failed to capitalise most of their opportunities to get back on top. Once dubbed as one of the teams that will get in Juventus’ way, I Ciucciarelli couldn’t replicate their early success in the Champions League here in Serie A.

With both of these teams lock and loaded, expect this match to generate some of the best Serie A 2019 highlights. And fans here at SBOBET are in for a huge treat.

Talking Points

Atalanta emerging as a title contender

I Nerrazzurri continue their murderous row as they are yet to be defeated in their last seven Serie A games. They have defeated the likes of Genoa, Roma, Sassuolo, Lecce, and Udinese since mid-September.

Their attack has been the forefront of their success as they’ve netted two or more goals in those seven games. In fact, they are the league leaders in goals scored this term with 28.

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Perhaps a summary of Atalanta’s attack was their masterful 7-1 win against Udinese just last Sunday.

The Black and Blues took advantage of a depleted Udinese squad at the time when defender Nicholas Opoku was given a red card at the 32^nd minute. Luis Muriel continued to produce goals for Atalanta by scoring a hat-trick while other guys like Josip Ilicic, Mario Pasalic, and Amad Traore opened the floodgates.

It is games like these where teams like Inter Milan and Juventus should take notice. But even with their ongoing streak, team manager Gian Piero Gasperini reiterates that there’s still a long way to go. He also mentioned that their defence needs work too if they’ll consider themselves as one of Serie A’s elite.

“I’ll start to look at the table after the 14th match or the 15^th [match day]. We can’t win it yet, only Juventus can lose it. Then there is Inter and Napoli apart from other teams which have good chances,” said Gasperini.

“Our strength up front allows us to deal with some mistakes at the back, but if we also had the best defense we would be at the top of the table,” he added.

Napoli looking to gain some ground

Carlo Ancelotti’s side has been inconsistent after seemingly starting to turn things around. After wins against Sampdoria, Lecce, Brescia, and Verona, they failed to gain ground at the title chase with a tough loss against Cagliari and drawn matches against Torino and SPAL.

Their game against SPAL in particular should’ve been an easy one for them, and it looked like they were in firm control of the match when Arkadiusz Milik netted a clinical finish during the ninth minute.

Few minutes later, however, Jasmin Kurtic caught the Napoli defence sleeping as he dashed through a goal on his own. While I Ciucciarelli dominated most stats across the board, they failed to make the most out of their opportunities.

Dries Mertens is expected to lead Napoli in climbing up the Serie A table as they host Atalanta — Napoli’s Dries Mertens handling the ball against Genk’s Joakim Maehle

As they continue their quest to the top of the table, Napoli is expected to be an active participant in the next transfer window. One of their main objectives is to shore up their middle by trying to keep Fabian Ruiz for a lucrative long-term deal.

Another interesting name thrown around for Napoli is Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The LA Galaxy striker recently announced his intention to move to Napoli so that he can help the team lift its first Serie A title in three decades.

“Seeing the love of that city would almost make me want to try an experience at Napoli, as it would be fantastic to replicate what Diego [Maradona] did,” said Ibrahimovic.

“With me, the Stadio San Paolo would be full every Sunday,” he added.

It remains to be seen on how this development would turn out. But even if the team will be able to acquire to his services, I’m not really sure on how well he would fit in for Carlo Ancelotti especially with his advancing age.

History

Napoli and Atalanta have faced each other in 29 matches where the former has won in 12, while the latter has won in nine along with eight draws between them.

Their last match in April ended with a 2-1 tally where Atalanta mounted a furious comeback to steal the match.

Betting Tip

	Napoli vs Atalanta	Atalanta Asian Handicap +0.75 @ 1.65
	October 31, 02:00 (GMT+8)

Our Serie A 2019 odds have Napoli at 2.05, Atalanta at 3.30, and a draw at 3.60 in the 1×2 market.

Both teams are expected to go all out in this match. However, when you got two of the top-three scorers in the league right now like Atalanta, the home team’s defence will be in for a long night.