Benevento made it back-to-back away wins in midweek as they defeated 10-man Cagliari 2-1, thanks to goals from Sau and Tuia. Atalanta cruised to all 3pts on Wednesday, beating Parma 3-0 at the Gewiss Stadium.
Those results mean that the gap between these two clubs in the Serie A table remains at 7pts, with Atalanta sitting above Benevento with a game in hand.
Benevento and Atalanta have only locked horns on two previous occasions, during the 2017/18 campaign. Atalanta claimed wins-to-nil on both of those occasions, scoring an average of 2-goals per game. The visitors head into the pair’s latest encounter as the form favourites with four wins and two draws from their last six league games.
Benevento’s form hasn’t been too bad, three wins, one draw and two defeats, but it doesn’t compare to their guest’s.
Benevento failed to score in their last home game against AC Milan and under 2.5 goals have been produced in five of the host’s last six fixtures in Serie A. Atalanta have kept two clean sheets in their last six attempts, the most recent of which arrived in midweek against Parma.
Despite these two sides only being separated by three positions in Serie A as things stand, their goal differences are miles apart. Atalanta have a +15 goal difference and are the second highest scorers in the division, while Benevento have a -7 goal difference and have only scored more goals than five of the teams that currently sit below them in the table.
The hosts look set to be without Gaetano Letizia, Iago Falque and Luca Caldirola this weekend, due to injury. Cristian Gabriel returns for the visitors following his one-match suspension, but Duvan Zapata and Mario Pasalic are set to miss the match through injury.
Atalanta are unbeaten in their last seven away games and look best placed to claim all 3pts on Saturday. The hosts were beaten in their last home game and have performed better on the road than they have in their own backyard this season.
Benevento haven’t conceded more than two goals in any of their last six matches and Atalanta have only failed to score fewer than two goals in one of their last six outings, making a 2-0 final scoreline look most likely.