Atalanta vs Sampdoria 09/07/20

09 July 2020

Atalanta continue their inexorable march towards a second successive Champions Leauge qualification this midweek as they take on resurgent Sampdoria at the Stadio Atleti Azzurri d’Italia.

The hosts have been a force to be reckoned with since the resumption of football in June, winning all five Serie A games to bring their unbeaten league run to ten (W9, D1). Six of Atalanta’s last eight league wins have featured over 2.5 goals and both teams scoring, although five have produced a full-time margin of one goal. Also, free-scoring Atalanta have found the net in ten consecutive Serie A home outings ahead of the kick-off, netting over 1.5 goals on eight of those occasions. Indeed, Gian Piero Gasperini’s men boast the division’s best home attack, having bagged 42 goals in 15 league home matches on an average of 2.8 goals scored per Serie A home game.

Meanwhile, the visitors have overseen an upturn in form lately, going from three straight Serie A losses to back-to-back wins, with four of those results (win/loss) producing the identical 2-1 scoreline and three seeing the deciding goal arrive no earlier than the 75-minute mark. Curiously, all five of Sampdoria’s last Serie A away games have seen over 2.5 goals and both teams on the scoresheet (W2, L3), with 63.16% of the goals scored/conceded across those matches coming in the second half (12/19). A draw seems to be an unlikely outcome here, given that none of their six previous top-flight H2Hs held in Bergamo finished in a stalemate (W3, L3), with the last five ended separating the sides by a single-goal margin.