Arguably the most exciting fixture on this weekend’s Serie A schedule pits eighth-placed Juventus versus fourth-placed Atalanta at the Allianz Stadium. With just four points separating the sides ahead of the kick-off, a victory here could prove decisive for Juve’s hopes of returning in contention for a top-four finish.
Likewise, a win for Atalanta could strike a devastating blow to Juventus’ efforts to avoid another underwhelming season. Coming into this matchday, the Bianconeri fell to an embarrassing 4-0 defeat to Chelsea in midweek Champions League action.
Meanwhile, an enthralling 3-3 draw away to Young Boys in midweek inflicted maybe irreversible damage on Atalanta’s hopes of reaching the Champions League knock-outs for the third season running. But a six-goal thriller in Switzerland remains within a high-scoring theme so often witnessed in Bergamaschi’s recent competitive outings.
Juventus vs Atalanta Head-to-Head
Juventus failed to beat Atalanta in both last season’s Serie A match-ups, drawing this exact fixture back in December 2020 before suffering a 1-0 defeat in Bergamo back in April. By extension, the record-time Italian champions have picked up just two victories in their last nine top-flight encounters against La Dea (D6, L1).
That said, the Bianconeri have not lost any of their last 24 meetings with Atalanta (W18, D6) since pulling off a narrow 1-0 win in October 1989. Bringing other competitions into the equation, the visitors are winless in their last 28 visits to Turin (D7, L21), scoring under 1.5 goals in 23 of those fixtures.
All things considered, Atalanta’s ‘Turin jinx’ could be the only justifiable reason to support their underdog status here. Other than that, the traveling side should relish their chances of beating the odds, especially following their recent domestic showings.
Juventus Form Preview
Despite their underwhelming midweek Champions League exploits, Juventus have enjoyed an upturn in domestic form, going from back-to-back Serie A defeats to two league wins in a row. More importantly, a 2-0 away win over Lazio last time out witnessed the Bianconeri score more than once for the first time in seven Serie A matches.
The record-time Italian champions have lost two of their inaugural six Serie A home games this season (W3, D1) and could suffer three defeats in their opening seven such fixtures for the first time since the 1956/57 season. It’s fair to say that Juventus’ form wobble at the Allianz Stadium emanates from their uneventful attacking showings, as they’ve netted a measly average of just 1.16 goals per Serie A home game thus far.
In fact, Juve’s tally of three second-half goals scored at home this Serie A season is the league-worst going into this matchday. Connoisseurs of action-packed football must have overlooked the Bianconeri this term, given that four of their six top-flight home matches have featured under 2.5 goals.
Atalanta Form Preview
A 3-2 away defeat to Manchester United in the previous Champions League round seems to have served as a wake-up call for Atalanta. They have since gone unbeaten in their subsequent seven matches in all competitions (W3, D4), bagging 2+ goals six times in a row.
Taking nothing but Serie A into account, Gasperini’s men have netted two or more goals in eight of their last nine outings. Though Atalanta’s tally of 27 Serie A goals scored this term is third to Inter and Milan, no team has notched up more goals from open play than La Dea (24) so far.
Delivering action from the get-go, Atalanta have scored a league-high nine first-half goals away from home this season. So it comes as no surprise that five of their six Serie A fixtures on hostile turf have featured the opener scored within 15 minutes of play.
Interestingly, Atalanta have attained 16 points out of the 18 available away from home this season (W5, D1). The only Serie A side yet to lose a league match on the road this term, the Bergamaschi have enjoyed their best six-game away start to a new season in their top-flight history.
Juventus vs Atalanta Predicted Lineups
Juventus (3-1-4-2): Wojciech Szczesny; Giorgio Chiellini, Leonardo Bonucci, Matthijs de Ligt; Manuel Locatelli; Juan Cuadrado, Weston McKennie, Arthur, Adrien Rabiot; Alvaro Morata, Paulo Dybala.
Atalanta (3-4-1-2): Juan Musso; Rafael Toloi, Merih Demiral, Jose Palomino; Davide Zappacosta, Martin de Roon, Remo Freuler, Joakim Maehle; Mario Pasalic; Josip Ilicic, Duvan Zapata.