Bergamo will the scene for one of the derbies of this season, played between AC Milan and the host, Atalanta. Both teams enter the game with title aspirations alive and well. Atalanta has had a slower start, already with a loss and two draws. However, they also had to play against current Serie A champions Inter Milan. Even in that game, they most likely should have won but were denied the victory by an Edin Dzeko equalizer.
Milan has been great this season. While the Champions League luck was not on their side, Serie A seems to be a different story. They have five wins and only one draw, and that was to Juventus. The truth of the matter is that Milan did play lesser opposition, aside from Juve and Lazio, but they took care of business.
Now, here are three bold predictions for the upcoming clash!
Atalanta v Milan predictions
Atalanta will continue their goalscoring issues
The team from Bergamo surprised everyone in the last few years. From a relatively mid-table team, they skyrocketed into the Italian elite. It helped that teams like Milan and Inter fell off, but even as they came back, Atalanta remained in the top. The foundation of attacking football was built and is being respected by all players.
Or, it was being respected. Unfortunately for Atalanta fans, this season has not started well. They only scored eight goals, which is the worst tally for the top half of the table. That is even worse than Juventus, currently having their worst start to a Serie A season in decades. For further context, Spezia has eight goals. Spezia also has four points and will fight relegation until the end of the season.
It is clear that something is not working out and Milan is not the team against which the issues will be solved. The Milanese only conceded three goals all year and that is second best, only behind the perfect Napoli who has two. This Atalanta team will need to hope they keep this game low-scoring. If they do not, it is absolutely Milan's to lose.
Milan will keep a clean sheet and win with a statement result
As it was said above, Milan has not had the greatest opposition in Serie A this season. Spezia, Venezia, Sampdoria, and Cagliari were all fairly easy games and most fans expect the team to win those. Still, when it comes down to a few points at the end of the season, it is these small victories that mean the most. Their only bigger games this year were a win against Lazio and a 1-1 draw with Juventus.
That is in Serie A. Milan has not had the same luck in the Champions League. The Italian team lost to Liverpool after winning 2-1 when Jordan Henderson scored a magnificent goal to turn the result to 3-2. They also lost to Atletico Madrid after going up 1-0, surviving almost 60 minutes without Franck Kessie who was sent off, just to concede to Antoine Griezmann in the 84th minute and then to Luis Suarez in the 95th.
Clearly, the fans are hungry for a statement win. Milan has all the attacking talent in the world, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Rafael Leao, and Ante Rebic, to name a few, to do it. Also, due to the fact that they are still a major threat to the top spots, this is also a derby, and winning here means that much more for the team from San Siro.
After the loss, Atalanta will be forced to forego any title aspirations
It is early in the season, obviously, but with a loss here, it does not look good for Atalanta. Simply said, if they lose, that is already 10 points behind league leaders, if Napoli wins. Of course, that is a lot of if's, but it would be fair to say that it's expected that Napoli takes all three points from Fiorentina.
Ten points is a huge gap and that does not even consider other teams in the race. Milan would be up eight points, and if Inter beats Sassuolo, they go up six. Those are not gaps that cannot be closed, but it is difficult with this form. When the fact that Juventus are finding their form is taken into consideration, Atalanta is poised to have a mid-table finish.
Of course, with all their recent success, this just might be an off-season. But it does call for a major overhaul in the summer, at least in attacking terms. Atalanta plays one of the prettiest brands of football in Europe and it would be a shame if they go back to mediocrity. For them not to do that, they simply need to take this crisis seriously.
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