Verdict: House win
Greatest odds: 7/5
Bookmaker: ZetBet
Each nonetheless within the race for an unbelievable Serie A title, Juventus and Atalanta will battle for 3 factors in Turin on Sunday night.
Juve have reignited their slim Scudetto hopes with 5 consecutive league victories, whereas La Dea’s poor begin to 2025 endured final week. However with Inter Milan and Napoli setting the tempo, neither aspect is totally out of the image.
Juventus
A resurgent Juventus have edged again into the Scudetto race, partly resulting from former league leaders Napoli shedding kind, now sitting simply six factors behind first-placed Inter.
With 11 video games left, Italy’s prime 4 stay tightly packed, and whereas Juve purpose for a Champions League return after falling on this season’s playoffs, securing a top-four spot stays their precedence.
Thiago Motta continues to be feeling the warmth, although, as his aspect crashed out of the Coppa Italia final week, struggling a quarter-final penalty shootout defeat at dwelling to struggling Empoli.
Nonetheless, they responded by beating Hellas Verona 2-0, with in-form midfielder Khephren Thuram extending his scorching streak—his opening objective on Monday took his tally to a private better of seven league objective involvements (three targets, 4 assists).
That consequence marked a fifth straight Serie A win for Motta’s males, and the final time Juventus managed six or extra consecutive league victories was in the beginning of 2023.
Extending that streak would put them degree on 55 factors with Atalanta, and historical past suggests they’ll at the least keep away from defeat: the Bianconeri have misplaced simply two of their final 40 league conferences with their Lombardy rivals—each in 2021.
Nonetheless, their final Serie A house win in opposition to Atalanta got here in early 2018, with the six clashes since then producing 5 attracts and one victory for La Dea.
Crew Information
Motta—who performed underneath Gasperini at Genoa – will face his former boss with out the injured quartet of Francisco Conceicao, Renato Veiga, Nicolo Savona, and Douglas Luiz.
Pierre Kalulu is now out there after a number of weeks out, however his centre-back associate Federico Gatti has been coaching individually resulting from a thigh pressure and should miss the match. This might permit Lloyd Kelly to retain his spot.
Randal Kolo Muani, not too long ago picked forward of Dusan Vlahovic up entrance, was named Serie A’s Participant of the Month for February. Solely Vlahovic has been concerned in additional league targets for Juve than Kolo Muani’s fellow Frenchman, Khephren Thuram, this season.
Atalanta
Together with January’s 1-1 draw, the place Mateo Retegui netted the equalizer for the hosts, the final three league encounters between Juventus and Atalanta have ended degree.
In truth, since Gian Piero Gasperini’s arrival in Bergamo practically 9 years in the past, this fixture has seen probably the most Serie A attracts: 11 in 17 conferences.
The Nerazzurri enter this newest conflict nonetheless reeling from their humiliating Champions League defeat, which led to a public fallout between Gasperini and star participant Ademola Lookman, with Gasperini hinting he received’t renew Lookman’s contract, which expires subsequent 12 months.
This week, ‘Gasp’ will match Roma’s Nils Liedholm with the second-most video games in control of a single Italian top-flight workforce (332), with solely Juventus legend Giovanni Trapattoni (402) forward of him.
Nonetheless, Gasperini’s future stays unclear, and after Teun Koopmeiners’ departure to Turin final summer time, Atalanta are getting ready for extra key exits in the summertime, with Lookman the probably to maneuver.
Going through what could possibly be the tip of an period, Atalanta will purpose to make a daring assertion by securing their first-ever Scudetto, however they should enhance outcomes quick.
Though they’ve saved clear sheets in 4 consecutive Serie A video games for the primary time since 2000, the Bergamaschi have drawn twice at dwelling to relegation-threatened sides not too long ago.
Final day out, they had been annoyed by Venezia, which price them the prospect to attract degree with Inter, and with a tricky run-in forward, additional slip-ups may show disastrous.
Crew Information
Along with long-term absentees Gianluca Scamacca, Odilon Kossounou, and Giorgio Scalvini, Atalanta can even be with out injured defender Stefan Posch this week.
If Swedish centre-back Isak Hien fails a late health take a look at, veteran membership captain Rafael Toloi could step in, or Marten de Roon may even transfer again from midfield.
In assault, Charles De Ketelaere and Ademola Lookman are anticipated to assist Capocannoniere chief Mateo Retegui—this season, the duo has mixed for 33 league targets.
Conclusion
Atalanta have scored probably the most targets from open play in Serie A this season (45), whereas Juventus have conceded the fewest, simply 12, establishing an intriguing matchup.
Juve’s kind is on the rise, whereas La Dea’s continues to falter, which means the hosts are primed to win and draw degree on factors.
Verdict: House win
Greatest odds: 7/5
Bookmaker: ZetBet
