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After suffering a European setback midweek, Atalanta return to action in the Serie A against Scudetto holders Napoli, who aim to end their winless streak.
Atalanta’s unbeaten run after four games came to an end at the Signal Iduna Park when they lost 2-0 to Borussia Dortmund in the first leg of the two-legged Champions League playoff tie for a place in the Round of 16. Serhou Guirassy opened the scoring just under three minutes into the match, and Dortmund used their home advantage to the full extent to restrict La Dea and score a second through Maximilian Beier before the break.
A 3-0 victory over Juventus earlier this month helped Atalanta progress to the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia, where they are set to face Lazio in March. Recent wins over Cremonese and the Biancocelesti in the Serie A have put them in 7th-place in the standings with 42 points.
Atalanta will miss Giacomo Raspadori as the striker suffered a flexor injury that will keep him out for at least a month. Nikola Krstovic is in line to replace Gianluca Scamacca in attack to ease some stress in this period of a quick run of matches.
Meanwhile, Napoli enter this match on the back of a 2-2 draw against Roma in their previous outing, a match where the Giallorossi saw their lead cut off twice by the hosts’ resilience, resulting in a share of the spoils. A top-four finish remains the primary objective for the Partenopei, having fallen off the Scudetto race, but they still have a long way to go with Roma and Juventus in their tail.
Antonio Conte’s men saw themselves flung out of the Coppa Italia as they lost the quarter-final to Como on penalties. They have not managed to muster a consistent run of positive results in the Serie A either, and were dealt a frustrating exit from the Champions League with just eight points across the board in the league phase.
Napoli are set to miss Scott McTominay, who is still recovering from a tendon problem. Eljif Elmas will fill in his position. Kevin De Bruyne and Frank Anguissa remain on the long-term injury list. Amir Rrahmani has suffered a thigh injury and he is set to be out for at least two months.
Here are the predicted line-ups for the match:
Atalanta (3-4-2-1): Carnesecchi; Scalvini, Djimsiti, Ahanor; Zappacosta, Ederson, De Roon, Bernasconi; Samardzic, Zalewski; Krstovic.
Napoli (3-4-2-1): Milinkovic-Savic; Beukema, Buongiorno, Jesus; Gutierrez, Lobotka, Elmas, Spinazzola; Politano, Vergara; Hojlund.
Trambak Bhattacherjee | GIFN
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