Atalanta vs Bologna

Atalanta and Bologna are set to trade tackles at the Gewiss Stadium in a potentially high-scoring Serie A fixture. Both last season’s H2Hs featured over 3.5 total goals.

Fresh from winning a fourth Serie A opener on the bounce, Atalanta will be aiming to impress home fans, who are back in attendance following an 18-month hiatus. Having established themselves as a permanent top-three fixture across the last three seasons, Atalanta can smell the opportunity to land a league title this term. Despite failing to score in their most recent home league match back in May, ‘La Dea’ finished each of the last three seasons as the most prolific Serie A side, which speaks enough of their scoring prowess. Adding to this sentiment, Gian Piero Gasperini’s men have racked up seven home league victories over Bologna in a row, bagging 3+ goals in three of the last five. What’s more, Atalanta last failed to find the net in back-to-back home Serie A outings in October 2018.

On the other hand, Bologna came out on top of a five-goal thriller against newly-promoted Salernitana on Matchday 1, eking out a 3-2 home victory despite falling behind twice in the second half. Bologna will be desperate to improve upon a dreadful away form from the tail-end of last season that saw them go four consecutive league trips without winning (D2, L2) to complete the 2020/21 campaign. But after conceding 2+ goals in four of their last six away top-flight games, ‘I Rossoblu’ head into what will be their 2500th Serie A match with low expectations. Yet, even though it looks highly improbable, the visitors could start a new Serie A season with two successive victories for the first time since 1996/97. Dampening that hopes could be the fact they’ve managed just one triumph in their last 11 top-flight away season openers (D3, L7).