High scoring Atalanta to put Samp to the sword
Atalanta’s relentless pursuit of Inter has been a joy to watch and it just gets better. Do struggling Sampa have any real chance on Wednesday? Have a read of our preview here:
These boys are the real deal
Bergamo is not a place known for its football. Sure, Atalanta are a decent side who have enjoyed many years in Serie A and are renown for producing some of the top young players in the game, but this season they have been put squarely on the map.
The performances of Gian Piero Gasperini’s side have been breathtaking, enjoying some big wins against the best side on the peninsula.
The key has been the attacking style which makes them so enjoyable to watch. They never know when they are beaten, as they proved in the recent 3-2 win against title-chasing Lazio where they had to come from two goals down.
They have also beaten Napoli, AC Milan and Roma (twice) during the campaign, chocking up a league-high 82 goals (that’s an average of 2.8 per game).
Josip Ilicic, Papu Gomez and Duvan Zapata are the key attacking trident through which so much damage has been caused. They lead the line with superb technical and physical ability, wearing teams down time and time again.
Sampdoria are not likely to offer much resistance on Wednesday as Inter’s advantage is slowly eroded away in the race for third.
Sampdoria may have already done enough
Claudio Ranieri took his side south to Lecce knowing a win would be a huge step on the road to survival for Sampa, and that’s exactly what they achieved.
A 2-1 win in a game where all the goals came from the penalty spot was hardly a classic but it could be enough to make sure Samp play in Serie A again next season.
It has been a disappointing campaign where key players like Manolo Gabbiadini have underwhelmed and a rebuild over the summer can’t come soon enough.
Ranieri should be given the chance to oversee that shake-up with the only consolation in this poor season coming from the struggles of their city rivals Genoa, who could still go down.
Atalanta v Sampdoria betting tip
If you have watched Atalanta this season you may well want to put some money down on them to win the Serie A title next season, that’s how good they have been. With that in mind, we are backing this one to finish with over 2.5 goals at odds of 1.44 with bet365.
Post bet chat James's Tips:
Atalanta put in an excellent performance but were only rewarded with a 2-0 win when they could have got more