Italian Serie A Match Preview, Round 28: Juventus Vs Atalanta
Written By Onyeka Daniel
At the Allianz Stadium in Turin, Juventus will be up against Atalanta for their 28th round of matches in the Italian Serie A, with referee, Marco Guida in charge of proceedings in this exciting encounter between these two teams that are pursuing a top four placing.
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For Juventus, having lost plenty of grounds in the Scudetto race to Inter Milan, they’re now closer to AC Milan in third place, hence they need to start gathering those points if they hope to keep that pace.
Once renowned for grinding out one-goal wins, Juventus have conceded some avoidable goals to struggling sides such as Frosinone, Udinese and Hellas Verona, killing their momentum at a crucial stage of the season.
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Losing for the fifth time in a row at Stadio Maradona, Juventus were beaten by struggling Serie A champions Napoli last week and they also face a selection crisis for this match, as several first-team regulars will be missing, or at least lacking full fitness.
For the visitors, back-to-back league defeats, the most recent of which saw them throw away a half-time lead for the first time this Serie A season in a 2-1 defeat at home to Bologna, saw Gian Piero Gasperini’s men start this round five points behind the top-four.
They at least stopped the rut during the week with a 1-1 draw away to Sporting in the UEFA Europa League Round of 16, keeping their season alive on three fronts.
Style Of Play
Despite the recent results, Massimiliano Allegri doesn’t seems to be thinking of changing from the 3-5-2 formation, so he’s set to lineup the team in this formation, even in the face of the absence of several key players in the squad. For Gian Piero Gasperini, the 3-4-2-1 formation should be expected. Both teams have similar style of play, but Atalanta will hope to make their superiority count in the midfield.
Recent Form
In their last 20 games played across all competitions, Juve have 13 wins, 4 draws and 3 losses. They’ve been far from consistent lately with just one win from their last 6 games. For Atalanta, they’ve 12 wins, 4 draws and 4 losses.
Head To Head
In the last 20 games played against each other in all competitions, Juventus have 7 wins while Atalanta has 3 wins and 10 has ended in a draw. The reverse fixture also ended goalless at the Gewiss stadium in Bergamo.
Players To Watch
With Vlahovic out, Juve will be looking to a partnership of Arkaduisz Milik and Federico Chiesa upfront while Kenan Yildiz can also come in too. For Atalanta, the return of Ademola Lookman will be of great news to the manager and he should be the link between the midfield and attack while either one Charles De Ketelaere or Gianluca Scamacca will look to start upfront.
Juventus Possible Starting Lineup: Szczesny; Gatti, Bremer, Danilo; Cambiaso, Miretti, Locatelli, McKennie, Kostic; Chiesa, Milik
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Atalanta Possible Starting Lineup: Carnesecchi; Scalvini, Djimsiti, Kolasinac; Zappacosta, De Roon, Ederson, Ruggeri; Koopmeiners; Lookman, De Ketelaere
Injuries And Suspensions
The home side will be missing some key players like the suspended Nicolo Fagioli, Paul Pogba and Dusan Vlahovic (yellow card). Also, Weston McKennie, Carlos Alcaraz, M Di Sciglio, Moise Kean, M. Perin and Adrien Rabiot will be out with injuries. For the away side, they will be missing E. Holm through suspension (yellow card) and F. Rossi through injury.
Verdict
Should probably end in a draw or a slight win for the Atalanta if they’re able to convert any of the few chances that come their way (1-1).
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