Ivan Juric will reunite with Gian Piero Gasperini here after years as both a player and his assistant at Genoa, so can the protege halt his master’s charge for the Scudetto?
Serie A 2019/2020
Date: Saturday July 18
Kick-off: 16:15
Venue: Stadio Marc’Antonio Bentegodi
Free-scoring Atalanta are away to Hellas Verona here, and with the hosts experiencing some indifferent form, we can expect the goals to flow yet in this interesting Serie A game.
La Dea simply can’t stop scoring at the moment. The visitors added another six to their haul last time out, taking their tally for the season to 93 when they smashed Brescia for six in Bergamo.
Lazio and Juventus were earlier mooted to be in a two-horse race for title glory, but with both sides enduring tough runs, Atalanta fans can only dream of a first-ever top-flight title for their club, following their near-perfect streak post-lockdown.
That said, Gasperini’s side still trail top spot by seven points, but can move to within four of Juve who do not play Lazio until Monday with another important win here.
The hosts Verona have done just fine for a promoted side with their ninth standing, but qualification for Europe is inevitably out of their grasp now.
Juric, though on a touchline ban will hope his side arrest their poor run of four winless games, which have left them just three shy of the bottom half.
Team news
Hellas Verona
Marash Kumbulla, Salvatore Bocchetti, Pawel Dawidowicz and Andrea Danzi are all sidelined for the hosts.
Atalanta
Luis Muriel will miss out for the second game running due to his head injury.
Head to Head
In 17 competitive meetings between these two sides in history, Atalanta have won seven times to Verona’s six. Four other encounters had ended as draws.
Team form
Hellas Verona last five competitive games: WLDDL
Atalanta last five competitive games: WWWDW
Betting tips
Though Hellas Verona have enjoyed quite a respectable set of results at home in recent months, their opposition Atalanta are proving almost unplayable at the moment, and are now only seven more goals away from hitting the 100-goal mark for the season after the hammering of Brescia last time.
Moreover, the visitors have won the last three meetings with Verona, scoring 11 goals and conceding just twice. So we expect Gasperini’s team to roll to yet another comfortable victory which is priced 2/5 by BetClever.
Duvan Zapata will continue to lead the lines here in the absence of Muriel. The Colombian will very much fancy his chances against Verona, having scored in each of his last two outings. He’s got ten already for the league season and is 19/20 to score anytime for Atalanta.
