Atalanta vs Napoli Match Preview and Prediction

By John


Serie A's (SA) top two collide at the Gewiss Stadium as Atalanta welcome runaway leaders Napoli to Bergamo. The absence of European football has helped La Dea to their best-ever points total at this stage of a season (27), yet they still trail the league leaders by five points. Gian Piero Gasperini's men responded to their first defeat of the season with a 2-0 victory at Empoli last time out, and have had a full week on the training pitch to prepare for this showdown.


Home form has been a serious issue for Atalanta in 2022, winning just four SA games on their own turf this calendar year (D7, L5). Welcoming Napoli is hardly likely to inspire confidence among the home faithful, given they've seen their side lose four of the last seven SA H2Hs on their own soil, including a 3-1 defeat here in April, a trend they'll have to buck to close the gap at the top of the division.


Napoli travel north on the back of their first defeat in any competition since April, as Liverpool ended their 21-match unbeaten streak (W19, D2). Such has been their dominance, not even that 2-0 loss could stop the Partenopei winning their UEFA Champions League group, and they can now open up an eight-point gap at the SA summit if results go their way in the latest round of fixtures.


Remarkably, Napoli have made an identical 12-game start to the league campaign as last season, but Luciano Spalletti's men were unable to sustain their assault on the Scudetto and finished in third. If they're to secure an elusive first title since 1990 this time around, maintaining their superb away form will surely play a part, as the Azzurri have lost just one SA road trip in 2022 (W12, D3), and have outscored every other side in the division on the road coming into the weekend (14).


Players to watch: Ademola Lookman has settled into life at Atalanta seamlessly, netting five times in SA, four of which were the final goal of the match. His numbers pale in comparison to Napoli hotshot Khvicha Kvaratskhelia though, who has directly contributed to 18 goals in 17 games for his new club (G8, A10).


Hot stat: Napoli have scored ten of their 14 SA away goals this term after half-time.

Fottennis Prediction: Atalanta 1 Napoli 1
 

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