Atalanta vs Sampdoria

9^th place Atalanta are home in week 25 to take on Sampdoria at the Stadio Atleti Azzuri D’Italia. The contest will feature two sides that will be trying to get back on track after having been held to draws in their matches at home over the weekend.

The bergamaschi come into this contest after playing Siena to a 2-2 draw at home. This will be their 2^nd consecutive home match. The draw leaves Atalanta in 9^th place of the Serie A league table with 31 points. They are one point back of 8^th place Genoa and just ahead of 10^th place Palermo. Manager Gigi del Neri’s side are now winless over their last 3 matches and this includes an oddity in that they have now played to 3 consecutive 2-2 draws at home with Reggina and Fiorentina have come before Siena. There are no suspended players at this time though Forsyth, Carrozzieri and Simone Inzhaghi are all expected to miss out due to injury. The important thing for Atalanta is that Doni will start.

Sampdoria were also held to a draw at home when they played against league leaders Inter Milan in a match that ended 1-1 at the Luigi Ferraris. The point leaves i doriani in 7^th place of the league table with 35 points, just 1 behind Udinese and 3 ahead of 8^th place Genoa. There is bad news this week on the injury front for manager Mazzari as one of the club’s top strikers- Bellucci- has been ruled out due to a partial meniscus tear. The club will try all the rehab that is possible before decided on possible season ending surgery. Look for Sammarco and Delvecchio to team up behind Antonio Cassano as the lone striker. The draw to Inter extended Sampdoria’s unbeaten run to 3 matches.

While wins have proven to be very hard for Atalanta to come by of late they have shown to have a propensity for scoring goal and have scored at least 2 over their last 4 games. Sampdoria’s back line will certainly be challenged and it will be interesting to see how they fare with Cassano alone in attack. Samp have won only 3 of 12 matches away form home with 8 losses, while Atalanta have lost just 2 of 10. Look for Atalanta to finally break through at home.

Prediction: Atalanta (2-1)