Despite facing setbacks in February with premature exits from the UEFA Champions League and Coppa Italia, Juventus has managed to secure five consecutive victories in Serie A. This impressive run places them just six points adrift from league leaders Inter. Although most of their recent wins have been against lower-ranked teams, Juventus faces a tougher challenge against Atalanta. Nonetheless, the Bianconeri can draw confidence from their exceptional record of only two losses in the last 40 league head-to-head matches (25 wins, 13 draws).
With Juventus leading the league in draws this season with 13, and considering the previous three Serie A encounters ended in stalemates, fans might anticipate another draw. However, Juventus remains undefeated at home this season (7 wins, 7 draws) and has bolstered this statistic with four consecutive victories at home, three of which were accompanied by clean sheets.
Atalanta also managed to maintain a clean record in the previous match but fell short of defeating relegation-threatened Venezia (D 0-0). This marks their second goalless draw in the last trio of Serie A games, placing them three points below the top spot at the round’s conclusion. This occurrence represents Atalanta’s first instance of securing four consecutive clean sheets in the top division since 2000 – an achievement they have only managed three times in history and not since 1997 have they kept a streak of 5+ clean sheets in Serie A!
Remaining unbeaten in six successive away league head-to-head encounters (W1, D5), Atalanta will view this fixture optimistically, particularly given that no other team has amassed more than their 30 points on the road this season (W9, D3, L2). Gian Piero Gasperini, who is set to match Nils Liedholm’s tally of 332 matches as a manager of a single team in Serie A history, must address the declining attacking form, with Atalanta scoring more than one goal in just one of their last five competitive outings.
Key Players to Monitor: Teun Koopmeiners, previously with Atalanta, sealed Juventus’ recent victory by scoring last, with six out of his last seven goals in competitive matches coming post-halftime. On the other hand, Serie A’s leading goal-scorer, Mateo Retegui, has notched seven goals in his last six league games, mainly before the 60-minute mark.
Noteworthy Statistic: Juventus led the Serie A with 19 opening goals this season before this round, tying for the most in the league.
