Serie A: Sampdoria Face Struggle Stopping Free-Scoring Atalanta

Atalanta vs Sampdoria

It may be a new Serie A season, but it’s still the same old Atalanta. La Dea have had a sizzling start to the campaign with three wins in their first four matches, while scoring a league-leading 14 goals. Although, they suffered their first setback of the season last time out with a stunning 4-1 defeat to Napoli.

Atalanta will be eager to bounce back this weekend as they face a resurgent Sampdoria. After losing their first two games, Claudio Ranieri’s side has now won back-to-back games, including a stunning 3-0 thrashing of top-four contenders Lazio.

However, the Serie A 2020 betting odds will still have the home side as significant favourites to pick up another win.

Talking Points

Atalanta attack still banging in goals

Anyone who loves to see goals must definitely watch Atalanta. La Dea have played five competitive matches this season, and they have resulted in a total of 27 goals.

They bounced back from their 4-1 defeat to Napoli with a comprehensive 0-4 thrashing of Danish side Midtjylland in their opening Champions League group match. Atalanta were up 3-0 by half-time and were in cruise control for the entire second half.

Duvan Zapata and Papu Gomez both continued their amazing form to start the season. Zapata, who scored their first goal and set up another, now has two goals and three assists this season. Meanwhile, Papu added another goal, giving him five in five games.

As if Atalanta didn’t already have enough attacking weapons, they have now added two more. Josip Ilicic, who was one of the best players in Italy last season with 15 goals and five assists, is back from his personal leave of absence. He came off the bench to assist on Atalanta’s fourth goal against Midtjylland, which new signing Aleksey Miranchuk scored on his debut.

Ilicic is still working his way to full match fitness after his long absence, but he remains a dangerous player who will provide manager Gian Piero Gasperini with another option off the bench.

Ruslan Malinovskiy did not play in Denmark due to an abdominal injury, and it remains to be seen whether he will be fit to feature against Sampdoria. But Atalanta still have enough options to fill in for him in midfield.

Atalanta's Josip Ilicic will start against Sampdoria in Serie A — Josip Ilicic returns to the pitch for Atalanda’s trip to Napoli

Sampdoria recover from slow start

Sampdoria had a disastrous start to the season. After losing 3-0 to Juventus on Andrea Pirlo’s managerial debut, they squandered a two-goal lead at home to lose 2-3 to newly promoted Benevento.

However, Claudio Ranieri has quickly righted the ship with back-to-back wins against Fiorentina and Lazio. Granted, Lazio were missing reigning Capocannoniere Ciro Immobile and were dealing with a number of injuries in defence, but Sampdoria’s performance was nevertheless impressive.

Meanwhile, veteran striker Fabio Quagliarella continues to create Serie A 2020 highlights. The 37-year-old got the ball rolling by scoring the opening goal against Lazio and has now scored in each of his last three games.

As is usually the case with a Claudio Ranieri-coached team, Sampdoria concentrate more on being solid on the defensive side of the ball. And after their poor play to start the season, they have improved significantly in their recent wins.

Ranieri made the brave decision to bench starting centre-back Omar Colley in favour of Maya Yoshida after their first two games, and the move has paid off. However, they still face a major challenge in trying to contain Atalanta’s league-leading attack.

History

Sampdoria have had a slight edge over Atalanta in recent years. Samp have won 12 of their last 24 meetings compared to Atalanta’s nine, with three draws. In an 11-game stretch from 2013 to 2018, Sampdoria won seven of their 11 league meetings against Atalanta.

Sampdoria were one of the few teams to keep a clean sheet against Atalanta last season as they had a scoreless draw at home. However, Atalanta had a 2-0 win at Bergamo thanks to late goals from Rafael Toloi and Luis Muriel.

Betting Tip

	Atalanta vs Sampdoria	Atalanta Asian Handicap -1.50 @ 2.06
	October 24, 21:00 (GMT+8)

SBOTOP odds have Atalanta as huge 1.39 favourites to beat Sampdoria, who are priced at 6.40 to pull off the upset. Meanwhile, a draw is at 5.20.

The Asian Handicap odds offer much better value for Atalanta, who usually take care of business at home. They’ve won eight of their last nine home games, with the lone exception being their season finale against Inter.

While Sampdoria’s defence has improved over the last couple of games, it’s still hard to see them silencing Atalanta’s prolific attack. La Dea just have too many weapons at their disposal, and they should eventually get a few more goals in this game en route to a comfortable victory.