SSC Napoli go head-to-head with Atalanta in top-of-the-table clash.

2024-10-28

As Napoli prepares to defend their perfect home record against a surging Atalanta at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, both teams gear up for a high-stakes clash that could redefine the Serie A standings on Sunday.

Napoli

Napoli picked up a fifth consecutive league win with an impressive 2-0 victory over AC Milan in the midweek round of fixtures. An early strike from Romelu Lukaku and a long-range effort from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia just before halftime secured maximum points for Antonio Conte’s side, maintaining a four-point lead at the summit.

"We see realistically what we are doing this year; not even the craziest would have predicted it,” reflected Conte on their league performance. However, he added, “we remain with our feet on the ground.”

Napoli will look to continue their impressive run when they welcome Atalanta this weekend for their matchday 11 encounter. The hosts hold a slight edge in recent head-to-head meetings, winning 10 of the last 18 Serie A fixtures between the two sides.

Since 2022, the Partenopei have dominated four of their five Serie A matches against Atalanta, with only Inter Milan inflicting more defeats during this period. Napoli are the only team in the league with a 100% record on home soil this season.

A victory on Sunday would mark wins in their first six home matches of a top-flight campaign for just the third time in club history. Conte is expected to deploy the familiar 4-3-3 formation, featuring Kvaratskhelia, Lukaku, and Matteo Politano in attack.

Atalanta

Meanwhile, Atalanta secured a third consecutive league win with a 2-0 victory over Monza. It took a 70th-minute strike from Lazar Samardžić to break the deadlock against a stubborn Monza defense, who later conceded again to a sublime Davide Zappacosta curler two minutes from time.

‘It was a challenging game for Monza's merit. They had great energy,’ Gian Piero Gasperini said after the game, commending the opponent’s resilience. The result pushed Atalanta further up the standings to third with 19 points, six points behind Sunday’s opponents, Napoli.

Atalanta will aim for maximum points when they travel to Naples this weekend in a bid to reduce the points gap between them and the league leaders. They will look to draw inspiration from the success on their last visit to Napoli, having recorded a comfortable 3-0 away league victory over the hosts in March.

However, the visitors have only recorded consecutive league wins over Napoli once, back-to-back victories that date back to 1997. Mateo Retegui is expected to lead the attack in Gasperini’s 3—4—2—1 formation.