Inter Milan v Atalanta
Inter have won four of unbeaten league games this season, with their only defeat coming in the Champions League to Real Madrid. Despite losing the likes of Romelu Lukaku and Achraf Hakimi this summer, they’ve recruited well to plug the gaps and look well equipped to defend their domestic title.
There have been plenty of goals in Inter’s domestic games, with all five so far featuring a minimum of four goals. The Nerazzurri have bagged a league-high 18 to date, though shipping five at the other end as their only clean sheet came on the opening day when hosting Genoa.
Four of Atalanta’s six games in all competitions this season have seen both teams find the net, as well as four of six featuring at least three goals. With their only clean sheets across these games coming against Bologna and Salernitana, it would appear unlikely that the visitors will register another here.
Head-to-head clashes between these two sides haven’t been the highest-scoring affair over the past couple of seasons, though under Antonio Conte, Inter weren’t quite as gung-ho as they’ve been under new boss Simeone Inzaghi. Atalanta have been a high-scoring team generally in recent campaigns under Gian Piero Gasperini, and having only failed to find the net once this term, should play their part in making this an enthralling encounter.
PREDICTION:
BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE
Lazio v Roma
Lazio began the season in emphatic fashion as they demolished Empoli and Spezia by an aggregate 9-2 scoreline. However, things haven’t gone to plan since then as they suffered defeats to Milan and Galatasaray, before earning draws with Cagliari and Torino in their last two outings. The defence has been a particular cause for concern as they’re still searching for their first clean sheet of the campaign, and a high-scoring Roma side with a number of potential goalscorers will be licking their lips ahead of this derby.
Roma have been largely impressive so far under Jose Mourinho, winning seven of eight matches across all competitions. Seven of these games featured a minimum of three goals, with Roma netting at least twice in all but one of these fixtures. Only current top-two sides Napoli and Inter have netted more league goals than Roma so far, so they should be expecting to carve out plenty of opportunities against Lazio’s fragile backline.
PREDICTION:
ROMA TO BEAT LAZIO
Juventus v Sampdoria
Juventus have finally won a league game this season at the fifth time of asking, though were made to sweat for the points as they triumphed 3-2 over a struggling Spezia side. Still, it’s a platform to build from, and have a decent return from their past three matches in all competitions having also beaten Malmo in Europe and taken a point from Milan.
Sampdoria will be hoping to get back on track and take advantage of their host’s poor form. However, having collected just one point from clashes with top sides Milan, Inter and Napoli this season, including a 4-0 humbling at the hands of the latter last time out, would appear to be struggling when taking on real quality.
The visitors have now lost 10 of 14 encounters with last season’s top seven since December, while their record against Juventus alone makes for grim reading. They’ve lost each of their four meetings with them over the past two campaigns by a combined 9-1 scoreline, as well as each of their last six away to the Bianconeri since 2015/16 by an aggregate 19-2.
Massimiliano Allegri also has a boost with four players expected to return to the line-up for this clash. None of Alvaro Morata, Manuel Locatelli, Alex Sandro and Juan Cuadrado started the midweek fixture, though all but the latter did make appearances from the bench. Federico Chiesa is however a slight doubt after picking up a slight knock against Spezia and being withdrawn late on.
PREDICTION:
JUVENTUS TO BEAT SAMPDORIA
18+BeGambleAware
GENTING CASINO ONLY OFFERS SPORTS ARTICLES AND NOT SPORTS BETTING
