Atalanta will be hoping to pick up where they left off last season by beating Torino in Saturday’s Serie A clash. Hosts Torino already have one game under their belt but could not shake off their poor form from the back end of the previous campaign.
Torino lost 1-0 away at Fiorentina in a tight and tense 90-minutes at the Stadio Artemio Franchi. Saturday’s hosts have now failed to win any of their last six league games and have suffered seven defeats in their last 12 outings. However, Torino have only failed to score in two of those 12 matches and always carry a threat upfront when captain Andrea Belotti plays.
Despite Torino only managing to finish two places and 5pts above the drop zone last season, Belotti scored 16-goals in 36 Serie A games for the Maroons. Goalscoring wasn’t the issue for Torino last season; defending was. Torino conceded 68-goals in Serie A last season and ended the campaign with a -22-goal difference.
Torino’s lost 53% of their final 18-games of last season, and 61% of those matches produced over 2.5 goals. The Maroons conceded an average of 1.79 goals during per game during the second half of the campaign, and both teams scored in 58% of those matches.
With all that in mind, you can see why we’re backing an away win on Saturday with over 2.5 goals being scored.
Atalanta are yet to play this season but finished the last campaign in style with just one defeat in their final 18-matches in Serie A. A whopping 13 of those 18 games ended in victory for Gian Piero Gasperini’s men who ended up claiming third spot ahead of Lazio, earning a place in the Champions League.
The second half of last season saw 74% of Atalanta’s away trips end with both teams on the scoreboard, while a massive 71% of their final 23-matches produced over 2.5 goals. Atalanta claimed an impressive 7-0 win in Torino back in January and will be hoping for another comfortable victory on Saturday.
The hosts look set to be without Ricardo Rodriguez (hip), Wilfried Stephane Singo (shoulder), and Daniele Daselli (knee) for the visit of Atalanta. The visitors have Berat Djimsiti suspended, and both Alexy Miranchuk (hip) and Pierluigi Gollini (ACL) look set to miss this weekends’ through injury.
We’re expecting Atalanta to continue their fine end of season form against a Torino side who cannot seemingly finish off games, despite scoring on a regular basis. Both teams are expected to score in this one, but Atalanta netted 98-goals in Serie A last season, more than anyone else, and should easily outscore their hosts on Saturday as they did in January.