Atalanta is hosting Torino in an interesting matchup of round 20 of the Italian Serie A. Atalanta was on a bad streak before the winter break, they haven’t won any of their last 2 Serie A games, but they will bounce back. Torino has been hot and cold lately, but there is plenty of room to improve in this team, and I think they will, if not this season, the next.
Atalanta is still in the top 4 in Serie A, in 4th place with 38 points, but they are now 8 points away from the top. Atalanta’s offense was slowly waking up before the winter break, and I actually think that winter break will help this team. Defensively, Atalanta has been good, more or less, but their offense is not as good as it can be despite scoring 38 goals so far this season. Zapata has scored 9 goals for Atalanta so far, while Pasalic added 7 goals and 5 assists. Unfortunately for Atalanta, Zapata is injured, and Gosens, Maehle, and Toloi are alongside him as well. Freuler is suspended because of the yellow cards. Atalanta has so much potential, they are one of the best offensive teams in Europe, at least they can be, and I hope they will be before this season ends.
Torino has the new coach, they have a few new players, and they are working on signing a few more, but the improvement is obvious with this team. Defensively, Torino has been one of the best teams in the league so far this season with only 19 conceded goals, while offensively, Torino could do better, and I think they will. In Serie A, Torino has lost only 1 of their last 5 games, but they have also won only 2 of those 5 games. Verdi, Belotti, and Aina are all injured for Torino. Pobega has scored 4 goals for Torino so far this season, while Pjaca and Brekalo added 3 goals each. I think Torino has a bright future ahead, I think we might be seeing them in the Europa League soon, but I don’t think it will happen this season. Torino will stay outside the relegation zone, no worries about that, but I don’t think they are good enough this season to reach the Europa League.
When playing at home, Atalanta hasn’t lost to Torino in their last 4 games, while Torino has only 1 game on the road so far this season. Torino hasn’t won any of their last 8 games on the road. Everything points to the over in this game, and to Atalanta to win, but I don’t know what to tell you. I’m not ready to side with Atalanta before I see how they look, and I won’t in this game.