Atalanta vs Parma 06/01/20

6 January 2020

Atalanta will kick off the new calendar year in front of the home fans, as they welcome Parma to the Stadio Atleti Azzurri d’Italia in the Serie A (SA) upper-half-of-the-table clash.

Atalanta headed into the winter break with a bang, dismantling out-of-sorts AC Milan 5-0 at home and will be looking to maintain that momentum when they take on a side they’ve beaten in three of their previous four top-flight H2Hs (D1). Gian Piero Gasperini’s men have been almost unstoppable in the recent period, securing five wins in their last six outings in all competitions (L1), with four of those victories coming via a multiple-goal margin and seeing Atalanta shut their opponents out. Also, none of their previous six SA home matches has ended in a stalemate (W4, L2), with five of those results (win/loss) seeing the winners on the day prevail by a margin of multiple goals. Devastating attacking firepower has been La Dea’s main strength in the first half of the season, with the Bergamo-based outfit scoring 2+ match goals in six of eight league home games while drawing a blank once in the other two.

As for the visitors, they’ve overseen an upturn in results on the eve of the Christmas break, putting together three straight SA matches without a loss (W2, D1). Notably, both of their wins during that three-game sequence have come away from home seeing Parma stretch their unbeaten away SA run to five straight matches (W2, D3). Interestingly, three of those games have witnessed the Crusaders find the opening goal before the 22nd minute, while all five saw them score at least once before the halftime break. But, except for a 1-0 triumph over Sampdoria, all seven of Parma’s remaining SA road trips have seen Roberto D’Aversa’s men concede at least one goal, which might be their biggest problem against a rampant Atalanta side.