Atalanta to continue their title push against Roma

Atalanta on a charge

Gian Piero Gasperini has got his side playing liquid football in the Serie A this season. While they haven't quite been the goal scoring juggernaut of recent seasons, they're certainly looking slightly less kamikaze like they have in those seasons. Instead, they're shaping into a side that could maintain a title challenge across the season and with Milan potentially slipping up ahead of them, they look the most likely to push Inter for the title. The hosts are unbeaten in their last seven Serie A games against the Giallorossi, winning four of these and drawing three times. It's their longest streak without losing to Roma in Atalanta's history, and Gasperini's men have been in fine form. An impressive 2-1 win away at Verona on Sunday proved further their potential title credentials, away against a tough Verona side. Teun Koopmeiners grabbed the winning goal for Atalanta with a heavily deflected volley to get his second goal for his new team. The Dutch midfielder has struggled to adapt to Gasperini's fast paced system after joining the Bergamo based side from AZ Alkmaar in the summer. He's only 23 and will surely play a key role for them further down the line, and he got a start against Verona with his compatriot Maarten de Roon in the engine room for Atalanta.

Patchy Roma need to find form

Mourinho's men have struggled to push the top four sides in the league this season. They sit eight points behind Napoli in 4th place, and it's looking extremely unlikely that Jose can push this Roma side into the Champions League spots. Last time out, they triumphed over relegation battling Spezia at home 2-0. Goals from centre-back duo Chris Smalling and Brazilian Roger Ibanez sealed a relatively comfortable win for Roma. A 93rd minute red card for youngster Felix Afena-Gyan was inconsequential in the end, and this win saw Roma stop their slide of four straight league losses. Mourinho has struggled to get the best out of this side, and this inconsistent run of form looks set to continue at the Gewiss Stadium on Saturday. With their hosts in fine form and sitting some nine points ahead of them going into this game, they're firm favourites to get the job done. Mourinho has had to deal with somewhat of an injury crisis this season, but the encouragement of having Nicolo Zaniolo, Chris Smalling and Roger Ibanez back fully fit should give the visitors more confidence going into such a tough fixture. Gianluca Mancini is also back from a ban to face his former side, so injuries now can't be an excuse for Jose in this game.

This should be one of the most entertaining ties of the gameweek in Serie A, with two of Italy's titans going head to head. But Roma's poor form coupled with Atalanta's impressive performances of late indicate that the hosts should come away with all three points. That's why I'm going with an Atalanta win with bet365.

Bet Atalanta to win on Bet365