Soccer Italy Serie A Prediction

Atalanta vs Juventus - Match Preview

⚽ 7 May 2023 - 10:30 GMT +0

The race for European football takes centre stage in Serie A (SA) this weekend, as all teams ranked from second place to seventh in the standings take each other on with only six points separating them prior to the round! AC Milan plays Lazio while Roma hosts Inter Milan, with those games kicking off the day before Atalanta tackles Juventus.

Atalanta has completely rejuvenated their SA campaign, with three victories on the bounce helping them earn 16 points from the last 21 on offer (W5, D1, L1). Their grit and determination were on full display in their gutsy 3-2 come-from-behind win against Spezia in midweek, although whether they can continue to simply outgun teams remains a concern, having kept only one clean sheet in their last 11 games.

The hosts will know it’s not always about how you start but how you finish, a sentiment that may be shared by their visitors Juventus, who finally got back to winning ways with a 2-1 win over Lecce last time out after four failed attempts in SA (D1, L3). That result means the Old Lady aren’t in immediate danger of losing their coveted top-four spot should things not go their way this weekend, after their previously deducted points were recently reinstated.

Yet leaving the Gewiss Stadium with all three points would still be worth its weight in gold for Juventus, although they’ve gotten used to sharing the spoils lately in this encounter, with eight of the last 12 league H2Hs ending with honours even, alongside two wins a piece. Nine of those matches also saw both teams find the net, meaning we could be in for a slugfest of a match!

📋 Key battle: A battle made in South America is one to keep an eye on, with Atalanta’s Colombian ace Duván Zapata having scored eight goals in his last 11 meetings with Juventus, whose Brazilian defender Danilo will try keep him under wraps, while also having scored the last goal in each of the previous two H2Hs.

⚡ Hot stat: Atalanta manager Gian Piero Gasperini has only won five of his 33 managerial H2Hs against Juventus (D10, L18).

Torino vs Monza - Match Preview

⚽ 7 May 2023 - 13:00 GMT +0

With the Serie A (SA) season nearing its conclusion, both Torino and Monza find themselves with little to play for having already secured safety, while the European places lie far out of reach. All that remains for Ivan Jurić’s Torino side is to secure a second-successive top-half SA finish, a quest that was boosted by what he described as a “dominant” 2-0 win over basement dwellers Sampdoria in midweek.

Torino will likely need to improve their home form to make that happen, with the last four matches they hosted yielding just a single point (D1, L3). A fifth-successive winless SA game at Stadio Olimpico di Torino would be their worst such streak in over a year, but they are going to need their misfiring attack to finally spark into life in order to avoid that fate, as their 13 goals scored at home is worse than only the bottom two sides in the division.

Monza has proved one of the toughest nuts to crack in the league of late, with a run of just one defeat from nine matches helping them secure a second-consecutive season in the top-flight (W4, D4). April’s SA Manager of the Month Raffaele Palladino praised the “courageous” performance his side turned in to come from behind and rescue a 1-1 draw with Roma on Wednesday, a result which marked their fifth straight outing without defeat (W3, D2).

The Biancorossi should hit the road full of confidence then, especially as they’ve lost just one of their last nine away league matches (W5, D3). That sequence includes four wins ‘to nil’, while they now go in search of a third straight top-flight victory on the road for the first time ever. Palladino will be a man-light in defence though, with starting centre-back and former Torino man Armando Izzo sentenced to five years in prison during the week for his role in a Serie B betting scandal in 2013/14!

📋 Key battle: Torino talisman Antonio Sanabria has netted both of his last two goals on home soil, while each of his last three has arrived after half-time. To keep that record going he’ll need to get the better of Monza’s Luca Caldirola, who’s netted twice in four matches from centre-back and has never lost against Torino (W1, D2).

⚡ Hot stat: Torino is the only side in SA yet to score in the first 15 minutes of a home match this term.

Napoli vs Fiorentina - Match Preview

⚽ 7 May 2023 - 16:00 GMT +0

Fresh from securing their third Serie A (SA) title, Napoli returns home for their first match as the new Italian champions. The second-longest period to elapse between two SA titles ended after 33 years in Udine, where they gained a crucial point after a 1-1 draw. Curiously, it was also in that city where immortal club legend Diego Armando Maradona scored his first 'Hand of God' goal.

Now back at their stadium named after the Argentinian legend, Napoli will be looking to properly celebrate what is the first Scudetto for a team from southern Italy since Roma's title in 2001. Their coach Luciano Spalletti, who won his first-ever title at 64 years of age, will likely rotate the squad for this game after some late-night player celebrations, including Matteo Politano who partied with fans until the early hours of Friday morning.

Looking to take advantage of Napoli’s festive mood, there will be Fiorentina. But with their recent 3-3 draw against Salernitana all but ending their hopes of finishing in the top seven with European qualification, it's quite likely that Vincenzo Italiano's men will focus more on next week’s UEFA Europa Conference League semifinal against Basel, while later in the month they also have a Coppa Italia final against Inter as another path into Europe.

Italiano praised the “enthusiasm and confidence” of his players in that aforementioned draw, which was the fourth amongst Fiorentina’s last five matches to see at least five goals scored (W1, D2, L2). Whilst he may be disappointed to have seen his defence concede goals in four of their last five SA outings, the Fiorentina manager instead praised their “never give up” attitude that he believes will serve them well in their continental playoffs. Recent goal-fests may continue here as each of the last three H2Hs held at this stadium has seen at least four goals, with the visitors winning the last two!

📋 Players to watch: The ‘eternal sub’ Giovanni Simeone could start here against his former club, for whom he scored three career goals. Nicolás González (five league goals) scored and assisted during Fiorentina’s surprising 3-2 victory at Napoli last season, with the last two of his last three SA strikes being recorded in the 49th minute.

⚡ Hot stat: Fiorentina has opened the scoring before half-time in three of the last four H2Hs held here.