06 May 2023
In their midweek fixture, Atalanta produced a similar result to Juventus, a narrow home win against a side battling to beat the drop. While the Bianconeri defeated Lecce 2-1, the Dea held on to a 3-2 scoreline to collect all three points against Spezia.
The win at the Gewiss Stadium was Atalanta's third in a row. Sharing the league's current best winning streak, the side from Bergamo are enjoying a return to form. Let's find out more about the team that provides the opposition in Sunday's lunchtime kick-off.
THE SEASON SO FAR
One of the season's pace setters, Atalanta shared top spot over the first two and a half months of the campaign. Gian Piero Gasperini's side fell to their first defeat on 23 October against Lazio. The 2-0 home defeat triggered a run of four losses from five games, a sequence that knocked them out of the top three.
The Bergamaschi have alternated positive spells with downturns in results and are currently on the crest of a wave. Following a run of just one win in six games, a revenge victory with the same scoreline over Lazio, Atalanta have collected all three points from five of their latest seven Serie A matches, including all of their three most recent matches, against Roma, Torino and Spezia. No team, in fact, has earned more points than the Nerazzurri's 16 over the last seven matchdays.
As a consequence, the Dea has managed to close the gap on the teams in the chase for the Champions League football next term and now sit in equal fifth on 58 points alongside Milan and Roma, two points adrift of fourth-placed Inter. Juventus are three further points ahead.
KEEP AN EYE ON...
With Ademola Lookman sidelined, Atalanta have turned once again to Duván Zapata to provide the goal threat.
Lookman had scored 13 goals in his 28 appearances in his debut Serie A campaign, including a double against Juve in the corresponding fixture in Turin, before pulling up with a muscle injury in mid-April.
Zapata put his name on the scoresheet with the winner against Torino last weekend. It was only the Colombian's second goal of the season but followed up an impressive performance the week before against Roma, when he provided the assist for the game's opening goal.
The centre-forward, however, has yet to hit the net in front of his own fans this tournament. His last home goal in the competition dates back to November 2021 against Spezia.
Zapata has scored six goals against Juventus in Serie A, no player has done better against the Bianconeri in the period since his Serie A debut in season 2013/14. If picked to face the Bianconeri, it will be the forward's 150th appearance for Atalanta in Serie A. Furthermore, with a goal, he would equal Cristiano Doni (69) as the Dea's top scorer in the competition.
