After a rare, but very much welcomed point on the road at the weekend, I have decided to use my club focus this week to look at the remaining fixtures that Atalanta will face this season and I’m going to try and predict how the Orobici will be positioned come the end of the campaign.
So, as things stand in Serie A, Atalanta find themselves in 14th place, with 28 points from their 25 games to date. They sit eight points above the relegation zone, while being level on points with Udinese in 12th place so 14th is quite a misleading position in a way. Atalanta’s fortunes depend largely on their impressive performances at home. They sit 9th in the Serie A home table with 23 points from their 12 games in Bergamo, while in the away table they are in 19th place with a rather dismal five points from 13 games.
I began by looking at the away fixtures. Of the 13 games remaining, fortunately, the slight majority of them are at home. It’s no real loss to La Dea that they still have away fixtures with Juventus, Roma, Inter and Lazio as they never really pick up points on their travels anyway, so these games won’t result in any real loss. Where there is hope for Atalanta is when they travel to Bologna in March and to Catania on the final day of the season. I feel these are two real opportunities for Atalanta to pick up a few points, and maybe even a couple of wins as opponents on both occasions are relegation candidates.
To round up the remaining away fixtures I’m going to optimistically predict that Atalanta match their away points total in their first 13 away games, in the remaining six and say they’ll pick up five more points on the road this season.
At the Stadio Atleti Azzurri d’Italia, the Nerazzurri are a completely different side. Stefano Colantuono’s men fancy their chances against pretty much anybody when they welcome them to Bergamo. Only suffering defeat three times at home (Juventus, Fiorentina and Parma,) Atalanta have won seven times and drawn twice at home. Some of the home highlights so far are a 3-0 defeat of Napoli, a 2-1 victory over Lazio and draws with Inter and Roma respectively.
There are still seven games to go at home, this provides the boys from Bergamo with a good chance to really push on and possibly finish top of the bottom half. When you look at the teams they are yet to play, it is completely feasible that the Orobici could go the rest of the season without losing another game at home.
The home fixtures, in order are; Chievo, Sampdoria, Livorno, Sassuolo, Hellas Verona, Genoa and Milan. Looking at those fixtures, it would be fair to expect at least four wins from those seven games, and there’s no reason to suggest why the other three games can’t be draws. For my prediction, though, I’m going to allow for one defeat.
To round up my look at the remaining home fixtures I’m going to, once again, make an optimistic prediction and say that Atalanta will pick up 14 more points at home. This goes along with their points per game average so far in Bergamo.
Combining the two, I am predicting that come May, La Dea will find themselves with 47 points (28 confirmed, 19 projected,) and could see themselves secure a respectable mid table finish.
So, let’s start this good run in with a win as we welcome Chievo to Bergamo this weekend!
Until next week, FORZA ATALANTA!
Follow Conor Clancy on Twitter: @concalcio
