Two goalscoring machines face off
Two of the highest scoring teams in the Serie A clash on Saturday afternoon when Lazio entertain Atalanta at the Stadio Olimpico in the eternal city (Rome for the uncultured swine amongst you). Lazio can, with a win, temporarily leapfrog Napoli in 4th as well as rivals Rome in 5th whilst Atalanta can momentarily pass Inter in 2nd if they win but who will succeed?
Lazio
Le Aquile have had a rocky start to the season amassing 3 wins, 2 draws and 2 defeats in their first 7. They do however boast the strong goal difference of 13-6 and have scored the fourth most goals in the league behind Inter, Napoli and Saturday's opponents Atalanta.
Shaky start?
Their rocky start is however solely down to their shoddy away form where they have won 1, lost 2 and drawn 1 but things are looking much more positive in Rome where they have 2 wins and a draw to their name.
Simone Inzaghi's men have scored in all but one of their games and that goalless defeat came away at Inter which is fully forgivable. Scoring 13 goals in 7 games is impressive, nothing more to say about it but conceding 6 in 7 is not as impressive, especially given the fact that they have played against some really inferior teams.
Weak against top opposition
It is very clear that Lazio perform much better at home but a worrying trend (which was the case last season as well) is that they struggle against the top teams. It's the reason why they finished at a lowly 8th last season and is looking like the reason as to why they will yet again miss out on a Champions League spot. Atalanta are very much a top team.
Atalanta
La Dea are as impressive as ever and are currently sitting pretty in 3rd 2 points below Inter, 3 below Juventus and 3 points clear of Napoli in 4th. Their stats of 5 wins, 1 draw and 1 defeat speaks for itself and they have furthermore banged in, by a good margin, the most goals out of any team in Italy's top flight.
Goals galore
Their goal difference of 18-10 is impressive but championship titles are built upon strong defences, especially in Italy. Definitely worth mentioning however is that 8 of those conceded goals came in their first 4 games so it seems that the leak has been fixed, for now at least.
Hysterical away form
Gasperini's men are coming off the back of 3 straight victories, a 2-0 win at Roma, a 4-1 win at Sassuolo and a 3-1 home win against Lecce. An interesting fact, that seems typical of Atalanta when looking at prior seasons is that they are as good away from home as they are when playing at home. They have won all 4 of their away games and generally look absolutely lethal with the pairing of Duvan Zapata and Papu Gomez paying huge dividends.
Lazio away is a big test, but nonetheless a test Atalanta will be very much up for and with their hysterical form, no team is safe.
Betting tip
I will be going for the obvious choice here and that is Over 2.5 goals at 27/50 with Bethard.
A bet with crazy good value for the ballsier ones is Atalanta to win and both teams to score at 71/20. Definitely worth a punt.
