Fiorentina vs Atalanta 08/02/20

8 February 2020

Fiorentina will face Atalanta at the Stadio Artemio Franchi this weekend, hoping to extend their unbeaten Serie A (SA) home run to three matches (W1, D1).

The hosts have suffered a dip in form in the recent period, going from three consecutive wins to three successive games without a win in all competitions (D1, L2). An indifferent home form gives the Viola another reason for concern (W3, D4, L4), especially given that they’ve won just once in their last seven SA home fixtures (D3, L3). Most of those matches were low-scoring affairs, with five of those seven games featuring under 2.5 goals. For Fiorentina, goals have been at a premium so far this season, with Giuseppe Iachini’s men netting just 11 goals in as many SA home outings, drawing a blank twice in the last five such fixtures. Frustratingly slow starters, they’ve opened the scoring in just four of those 11 matches, subsequently winning three (L1).

Meanwhile, the visitors have endured mixed fortunes in their past five SA games (W2, D2, L1), with three of them producing over 3.5 goals. They’ve had the exact same return from their last five league away fixtures, too, although their latest SA road trip yielded a stunning 7-0 win over Torino. Unlike Fiorentina, Gian Piero Gasperini’s players have been quite productive this season, scoring 28 goals in 11 SA away matches (2.54 goals per game on average), finding the opener (if any) in 55% of them. However, ‘La Dea’ have endured all sorts of problems at this venue since the turn of the new millennium, failing to pick up a single win in 19 competitive trips to Fiorentina in the 21^st century (D8, L11).