Atalanta vs AS Roma Preview

After their exertions in Europe in midweek, AS Roma will turn their attention to the Serie A and their top-four race when they travel to Bergamo on Monday to face Atalanta.

The hosts were among the seven teams expected to battle for the top four this season and true to the punters’ prediction, they started the season well.

However, 30 games into the season, they are sitting seven points behind fourth-placed AS Roma. After a 1-1 draw against Fiorentina last Monday, coach Gian Piero Gasperini highlighted that this game against Roma was “very important for us to win.”

The Bergamo-based side have no one to blame but themselves as their poor recent ten-game league form (W3, D2, L5) has seen them spiralling down the table. Moreover, they managed just two clean sheets during this sequence which has made them the side with the second-worst defence among the current top-seven teams.

AS Roma come into this game in a good mood after securing a semi-final place in the Europa League courtesy of a 4-2 aggregate win over Dutch side Feyenoord on Thursday.

That win was their fourth win in their last five games and saw them score 3+ goals in a game for the third time in their last five competitive matches.

After dropping to fourth position due to Juventus’ 15-point deduction being revoked, the visitors now have a serious top-four fight. They can play UEFA Champions League next season by winning the Europa League.

Jose Mourinho is not thinking about that with the Portuguese asking his side after their midweek win to “forget about the Europa League” and prepare for this match, where they’ll be looking to build on a run of three straight league wins.

Each of those and all nine of their Serie A victories in 2023 have come with a clean sheet, adding an aura of defenCive invincibility to Roma. As a result, they are in line to win four straight top-flight matches without conceding for the first time since November 2013, although that would need them to record only their fourth such Serie A head-to-head victory this century.

This game gets underway at 19:45 BST.

Other fixtures taking place this week in Serie A:

Serie A Table