Favourable Fixture List Gives Atalanta Hope of Extending Serie A Lead

A hard fought 2-1 victory over Milan on Friday moved Atalanta to the top of the Serie A standings and sparked talk of them going on to win the title.

Bookmakers still rate reigning champions Inter as the favourites to retain the title and they remain firmly in the mix.

However, plenty of punters will be willing to take advantage of the m88 free credit promotion to wager on Atalanta to topple Inter this season.

Their upcoming run of fixtures is relatively favourable and gives them the opportunity to put some distance between themselves and the chasing pack.

Each of the Serie A title contenders has seven fixtures scheduled between now and the end of January. Here is what is on the agenda:

• Atalanta: Cagliari (A), Empoli (H), Lazio (A), Udinese (A), Juventus (H), Napoli (H), Como (A).

• Napoli: Udinese (A), Genoa (A), Venezia (H), Fiorentina (A), Verona (H), Atalanta (A), Juventus (A).

• Inter: Lazio (A), Como (H), Cagliari (A), Venezia (A), Bologna (H), Empoli (H), Lecce (A).

• Fiorentina: Bologna (A), Udinese (H), Juventus (A), Napoli (H), Monza (A), Torino (H), Lazio (A).

• Lazio: Inter Milan (H), Lecce (A), Atalanta (A), Roma (A), Como (H), Verona (A), Fiorentina (H).

• Juventus: Venezia (H), Monza (A), Fiorentina (H), Torino (A), Atalanta (A), AC Milan (H), Napoli (H).

The victory over Milan was Atalanta’s ninth successive win in Serie A and undoubtedly cranked up the pressure on their title rivals.

Manager Gian Piero Gasperini claimed his team ‘thoroughly deserved’ the victory and was delighted to hear Atalanta fans chanting about winning the Scudetto at the final whistle.

“I don’t think that ever happened in Bergamo that they’d sing that after 15 games, so let them sing!” Gasperini said. “We’d never been top of the table this far into the season – they had decades of struggle, so let them enjoy it.”

“The people of Bergamo have their feet firmly on the ground, so don’t take anything for granted. If we were still up there after another twenty games, it’d be different, but as things stand it is an expression of joy and a deserved one too.”

Gasperini’s joy at his team’s progress this season is not misplaced and he could have plenty more reasons to celebrate over the next few weeks.

They will fancy their chances of defeating Cagliari and Empoli in their next two games, before embarking on a run of fixtures which look tricky on paper.

However, when you consider how well Atalanta have been playing over the past few months, they have nothing to fear from any of their opponents.

Visits to Lazio and Udinese are potential banana skins, but Atalanta are perfectly capable of emerging unscathed from both fixtures.

Their next couple of games are where things get really interesting, with Juventus and Napoli scheduled to visit the Gewiss Stadium.

Juventus are unbeaten in their first 15 games this season, but nine draws have scuppered their hopes of keeping pace with the league leaders.

Napoli’s 1-0 home defeat against Lazio on Sunday left them second in the table and Gasperini’s side will believe they can defeat them on January 19.

Atalanta triumphed 3-0 in the reverse fixture at the start of November, so they should have nothing to fear when they meet them next month.

A trip to Como at the end of January will also hold no fears for Atalanta and they could be in a useful position at the end of the upcoming run of matches.

While there will still be plenty of games to play, establishing a handy lead heading into February could be the difference between success and failure this season.