Atalanta will make the long journey south for a Wednesday night clash with Napoli as Serie A’s third- and fourth-placed teams meet at the San Paolo.
Carlo Ancelotti’s Napoli are unbeaten in their last six matches but missed a big opportunity over the weekend to reel in league leaders Juventus. Napoli are fourth with 17 points but a draw kept them behind Atalanta after the weekend.
Take away Atalanta’s inaugural Champions League campaign and they would be having a stellar season. Gian Piero Gasperini’s team is third in Serie A with 20 points and only three behind Juventus. They could move level with the Bianconeri with a win and results elsewhere going their way.
Atalanta are seven-matches unbeaten in Serie A and are coming off of a win over Udinese, 7-1. La Dea lead Serie A in goals scored with 28 while conceding just 14 times. Gasperini has continued to improve Atalanta year on year despite the modest club not having the funds to buy big-named players.
History bodes well for Atalanta for Wednesday night. The away team in this series has won five of the last six meetings. Four straight matches between Napoli and Atalanta have ended with the away side winning.
Last season, Atalanta went to the San Paolo and won 2-1 in April. Can Gasperini mastermind another victory over a top-four rival? Napoli’s last win at home over Atalanta came in August 2017. They won 3-1 on that day.
Atalanta’s Alejandro Gomez returned to action against Udinese in his No. 10 role. Gomez was substituted in the Champions League with a knock as a precautionary move. Simon Kjaer returned to the team at the weekend but Andrea Masiello could remain sidelined for midweek against Napoli.
Hirving Lozano may return to Napoli’s starting XI after being an unused sub against SPAL. He is just back from an ankle injury. Meanwhile, Kostas Manolas could miss out with a rib injury for the second straight Serie A game. Mario Rui is also recovering from an injury and will not feature.
Napoli’s weekend draw against SPAL was highly disappointing. Now, they face Serie A’s third-placed team. Atalanta will push Napoli the entire game for three points, but these sides will finish in a midweek stalemate.
The quick turnaround will prevent either from gaining the upper hand. Nine of the last 15 matches in all competitions between Napoli and Atalanta have finished with over 2.5 goals scored. Expect these sides to find the back of the net in an exciting draw in Naples.
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