Atalanta vs Napoli

Atalanta and Napoli are set to trade tackles in a Serie A top-four six-pointer at the Gewiss Stadium.

Ederson’s injury-time header salvaged a point in a 1-1 draw at Udinese on the stroke of the international break as Atalanta failed to respond to a 2-1 home loss to Inter Milan. More importantly, ‘La Dea’ squandered a golden chance to leapfrog Napoli into fourth, instead commencing this round one point adrift of the final Champions League qualifying spot. But since that defeat to Inter remains the only blemish on an otherwise near-perfect home record in all competitions this term (W5, D1), Atalanta will feel upbeat about making amends and halting a three-game losing H2H run against Napoli. As each of those five unbeaten home outings also witnessed Gian Piero Gasperini’s side keep a clean sheet, a first Serie A shutout against Napoli since July 2020 could be on the cards.

However, since that 2-0 defeat during the coronavirus pandemic, Napoli have netted 2+ goals in all six league matches against Atalanta, providing new manager Walter Mazzarri with a platform to build up after returning to the bench to replace Rudi Garcia. The veteran manager, who inspired ‘I Partenopei’ to Coppa Italia glory in 2012, is back to stem the bleeding after the reigning champions experienced an abysmal start to their Scudetto defense (W6, D3, L3), bookended by an embarrassing 1-0 home loss to Empoli last time out. He’ll bid to uphold Garcia’s legacy on the road, though, with Napoli winning their last four competitive away games, three of which via multiple-goal margins. Back-to-back wins ‘to one’ at the Gewiss Stadium also bode well.