Juventus and Atalanta lock horns in this Serie A clash on Sunday teatime, with the Turin side looking to sign off for the international break with three points. Juve are strong favourites to claim three points despite the fact that they finished sixth in the standings last term. Luciano Spalletti's side need to win these sort of matches if they're to mount any sort of Scudetto challenge.
As for La Dea, the visitors have won two and lost two of their opening four clashes under Maurizio Sarri. Successive defeats against Roma and Cagliari followed a promising start to the campaign where three consecutive wins were landed. We're expecting an entertaining clash between both sides who will be going for the three points.
Juventus v Atalanta Betting Markets
Juventus are warm favourites to land a victory against Atalanta on Sunday, although the Turin side were by no means home bankers last term. The Old Lady could only manage ten successes across nineteen matches on home soil. It means that the Juventus Stadium was hardly a fortress considering that seven clashes ended all square although there were only two defeats along the way.
Luciano Spalletti's team are trading at around odds of 1.65 to win this encounter. This suggests a 60% chance of recording a victory, with Juve opening the campaign with a 1-0 success at Frosinone before obliging with a 2-0 win over Parma. Then came a 1-1 draw at home to Milan before a dramatic 3-2 reverse at Sassuolo.
There's a slight curveball for Juve in the sense that they'll have played NEC Nijmegen in the Europa League just days before. However, they have been strong at home this term, with the 1-1 draw against Milan the least they deserved considering they had five shots on target compared to their opponents' one.
Previously to this, there was a comfortable 2-0 victory against Parma and they face an Atalanta side who have just endured successive 2-1 defeats in Serie A. La Dea were stung late at the Stadio Olimpico against Roma when leading by a single goal only to be downed at the end by two late strikes. Cagliari then made the most of low possession to oblige with a 2-1 win.
Atalanta will doubtless come into the game a little fresher and odds of 4.75 might be attractive to some. You can also enjoy an odds-against quote when it comes to the visitors and the draw on the Double Chance market.
Goals Under/Over
The Over 2.5 Goals odds is trading slightly shorter than Under 2.5 Goals. It's a difficult one to call considering that ten goals have been scored across four Juventus clashes. It doesn't take a genius to realise this is an average of 2.5. Similarly, ten goals have been registered in four Atalanta matches and it's therefore a game to take a difficult view.
If we look at Juventus in front of their own fans, both matches have featured two goals. Parma didn't get much of a sniff when losing 2-0 in Turin and Milan only had one effort on target which is where they registered. That suggests that Under 2.5 Goals is the answer, even if the previous two Atalanta games have involved three goals each time.
Those two games were preceded by 1-0 successes against Hapoel Tel Aviv and Bologna, so there's a chance that they will be able to keep things tight. Particularly as they are facing a difficult opponent where a draw would be a good outcome.
BTTS
The BTTS Yes odds are trading marginally shorter than the BTTS No outcome. The previous two meetings have seen BTTS No happen, with Atalanta claiming a 3-0 Coppa Italia success back in February before Juventus were able to leave the Bergamo Stadium with a 1-0 victory when the teams last clashed in Serie A.
On that latter occasion, there weren't a huge number of shots on target registered and this is a game where we might see defences on top. Maurizio Sarri might temper his attack-minded approach in a bid to try and get something out of the game. As with the Total Goals lines, it's difficult to fall too strongly on either side of the fence here.
On the basis that BTTS No is trading at around evens, there's definitely a case that this selection is value. You could opt to double this price if you pair the above pick with a Juventus win and we could feasibly see a 1-0 or 2-0 winning scoreline for Spalletti's team considering that they should be able to make home advantage count.
First Goalscorer
Edon Zhegrova came off the bench at Sassuolo on the hour mark and the Kosovan repaid his manager's decision by netting a late brace. He twice equalised for Juventus before his team were beaten, although the former Lille player will now aim to keep racking up the goals after spending the whole of the previous campaign without a goal to his name.
Randal Kolo Muani is a French international who has arrived on loan from Paris Saint-Germain and the 27-year-old certainly has the propensity to find the net. He was able to score on a sporadic basis on loan at Tottenham with Nico Gonzalez having netted against Parma and he could be another one to look at.
For Atalanta, goals have been fairly thin on the ground this season, although Gianluca Scamacca has scored a couple of goals for La Dea already this term. There was a goal that proved to be the winner away to Hapoel Tel Aviv in the Europa Conference League before striking what turned out to be a consolation against Cagliari.
