Sampdoria defeated Atalanta 1-0 at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris to maintain their good run of recent results.
A solitary strike from Manolo Gabbiadini in the first half was enough to secure the three points for the home side.
Sampdoria immediately settled into their possession game and looked to dominate from the start.
Gabbiadini and Eder combined with some nice interplay in the eight minute but failed to test Marco Sportiello in the Atalanta goal.
Soon after Stefano Okaka did well to find some space on the edge of the box but his shot was easily saved before Roberto Soriano went close after doing well to turn past a couple of defenders.
Atalanta finally registered an effort on the half hour mark when Luca Cigarini fired wildly over the bar.
The deadlock was eventually broken in the 35th minute when Gabbiadini ran onto a precise long ball from Obiang to calmly slot home. It was the forward’s third goal in his last three matches.
Eder nearly added a second five minutes later when he beat his marker with some lovely skill but curled his effort just wide of the right post.
Atalanta began to show more ambition at the start of the second half but struggled to create any clear cut chances as German Denis had a shot charged down soon after the restart.
Sampdoria looked dangerous on the counter and began to exploit the spaces behind the opponents defence. Lorenzo De Silvestri charged forward on the break and had a shot deflected into the path of Gabbiadini whose shot was also blocked.
There was a break in play on the hour mark after Obiang went down with an injury and the Spaniard eventually had to depart the field.
Atalanta finally produced a move of quality when Maxi Moralez and Denis combined with some fine one touch football to set up Daniele Baselli who was unable to latch onto the forward’s through ball.
That move seemed to give the Nerazzurri confidence and they began to dominate the game for the first time and the hosts began to display some nerves.
Defender Boukary Drame went close soon after for the visitors while Cigarini blasted a free kick straight into the wall in the dying minutes.
Okaka should have made it 2-0 in stoppage time but he was denied when through on goal.
The visitors should have snatched an equalizer in the final seconds when Denis headed wide from six yard out, however the home side ultimately held out for the three points as Sinisa Mihajlovic’s side continue their good run of form.
