Atalanta vs Napoli prediction: ITALY: Serie A betting tips on match 2023-11-24 17:00.
Atalanta missed an opportunity to leapfrog Napoli in the Serie A (SA) standings as they salvaged a point thanks to a late strike against Udinese in their final match before the international break. Head coach Gian Piero Gasperini’s men come into this game trailing their opponents by a point in a crucial battle for the league’s top-four places whilst also looking to end three consecutive H2H defeats.
The hosts should feel confident of doing so after registering six clean sheets from their seven competitive outings at Gewiss Stadium so far this season (W5, D1, L1), conceding only in their 2-1 defeat to the league leaders Inter in their last SA home fixture. Despite the result not going their way that day, Gasperini believes a repeat performance will serve them well, particularly if they can get defenders Matteo Ruggeri and Giorgio Scalvini back from injury.
Rudi Garcia’s tenure at Napoli came to an end after just 16 competitive matches (W8, D4, L4), following a disastrous 1-0 loss at home to Empoli that left them ten points adrift of top spot during the international break. Despite not being in favour of recalling past employees, the club’s president Aurelio De Laurentiis appointed Walter Mazzarri, who led Napoli to their first trophy with the 2012 Coppa Italia, for a second stint.
Mazzarri accepted a contract until the end of the season, buying Napoli some time to reportedly headhunt the highly sought after Antonio Conte. In the meantime, Mazzarri will be tasked with waking and shaking up a side that has won just one of their last four competitive matches (D2, L1) in order to keep pace with the current top three.
Players to watch: Ademola Lookman scored Atalanta’s lone goal in last season’s H2Hs and he has contributed to three goals across his last four SA matches (G1, A2). Leaving last season’s hero Khvicha Kvaratskhelia on the bench against Empoli was a Garcia gamble that didn’t pay off. The Georgian is expected to start here and he was on the scoresheet in his previous H2H appearance.
Hot stat: Napoli have won all five SA matches this season in which they opened the scoring.