Serie A: Atalanta Test for Improving Milan

AC Milan vs Atalanta

Fourth faces sixth at the San Siro on Sunday in a game which could really shake up the battle for the top four.

Serie A: Milan vs Atalanta brings together two teams with serious Champions League aspirations, in a highly competitive race. At SBOTOP odds of 1.02 to win the Scudetto, Napoli are in the distance and the race is on for the other three Champions League places. And it’s tight at the top with just six points separating Inter Milan in second from Atalanta. It would be even more congested were it not for Juventus’ hefty points ban which has certainly made it more interesting for the chasing pack.

Atalanta are three points back from Milan but they can draw level with I Rossoneri with a win, though fifth placed Lazio are at home to struggling Sampdoria this weekend and could move up to third if results go their way. But La Dea come into the game on the back of a shock home defeat to Lecce and they will be looking to make amends in Milan while their hosts made it three victories in a row with an away win in Monza.

Talking Points

Milan are toughing it out

Midfield ace Junior Messias scored the only goal of the game to give Milan a big three points against Monza and that was the third 1-0 win in a row. It hasn’t always been pretty but Stefano Pioli’s lads have ground out these results and winning is a habit. Milan have been short of a prolific striker for a while, only two players hitting 20 goals over the past 20 campaigns, Andriy Schevchenko in 2004 and Zlatan Ibrahimovic in 2012.   

Olivier Giroud is an experienced target man and he still knows where the net is, bagging seven goals so far this season while the star man, once again, is Rafael Leao with eight goals and five assists. And there is another promising young striker in Brahim Diaz, who has four league goals and he scored the winner in Milan’s Champions League match with Tottenham Hotspur. 

Milan could win four in a row for the first time this season and Pioli has praised his men for their ability to overcome a three match losing run, saying: “It’s easy to be a team when things are going well, it was much less easy to overcome those three or four difficult weeks.”    

But overcome them they did and the Milan vs Atalanta betting odds are backing Pioli’s men to make it four from four though Atalanta will present the stiffest test they have faced in a while.

Atalanta’s new generation are doing just fine   

Gian Piero Gasperini has led Atalanta for the last six campaigns and they have become one of the best attacking sides in Europe over that time, spearheaded by the Colombian duo of Luis Muriel and Duvan Zapata. But they are both in their 30s now and some new talents have emerged to score the goals, former Everton and Fulham striker, Ademola Lookman already scoring 12 in his best campaign to date. And 20 year old Denmark striker Ramsus Hojlund has won plenty of admirers in Italy following his 15m Euros transfer from Sturm Graz in the summer.

He has scored seven goals in 21 games and Real Madrid and Arsenal are both said to be tracking the young star, Los Blancos on the hunt of for a successor to Karim Benzema. 

Hojlund scored the second goal in La Dea’s match against Lazio recently, a 2-0 win which lifted them into contention and he is sure to start against Milan and he clearly has a great future ahead of him.  And Gasperini will be hoping for a return to top form for Dutch midfielder Teun Koopmeiners who has six goals and was superb in the first half of the campaign.   

History

I Rossoneri have had much the better of the head to head Milan vs Atalanta results, winning 23 matches to La Dea’s ten and there have been 14 draws in all competitions over the past three decades.

The two teams met in Bergamo in the second game of this season as Milan fought back from a first half deficit to earn a 1-1 draw.   

They have comparable form over the past six games; Milan’s three consecutive wins followed three losses while Atalanta have won two, drawn one and lost three of the last six.

Betting Tip

With Milan at odds of 2.11, Atalanta at 2.92 and the draw at 3.20 all three results are well in play here and I think both teams will go for the win; Milan because they are at home and are looking for some momentum, and Atalanta because they always do! 

I think La Dea will push their hosts hard and I doubt they will allow another 1-0 for Milan.

 

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