Aiming to overhaul their visitors in the Serie A standings, Atalanta BC welcome in-form Bologna to Bergamo on Sunday evening.
While La Dea lost heavily in midweek, their Emilian counterparts have won five straight games ahead of a crucial clash in the race for Champions League qualification.
Match preview
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Seeing their 10-match unbeaten run shattered by the likely Scudetto winners on Wednesday, Atalanta stayed fifth in Serie A rather than leapfrogging Bologna with a win over irrepressible Inter Milan.
Though a loss to their Lombardy rivals at San Siro brought no shame, both conceding four goals and managing just one shot on target caused some concern for ex-Inter boss Gian Piero Gasperini.
La Dea's tactical maestro may have been outgunned by Simone Inzaghi and his free-scoring league leaders, but Atalanta now return to home turf, where they have won each of their last seven league games.
Never before have the Bergamo club won eight successive home matches throughout their long Serie A history, and another success on Sunday could also prove important for more tangible reasons: they trail Bologna by two points and cannot afford to let that gap grow.
After taking just one point from the two Milan clubs over the past few days, Gasperini will be keen to get back on track this weekend, when Atalanta are strong favourites based on recent history, if not current form.
The Nerazzurri have lost only one of their last 12 home games against Bologna in Serie A, winning on no fewer than eight occasions - though that lone defeat came as recently as April of last year.
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In fact, Bologna have won their last two league meetings with Atalanta without conceding a goal, and they are now hoping to post three-in-a-row for the first time since 1963.
A keen student under Gasperini at Genoa during his playing days, Thiago Motta will also be aiming to do the double over his mentor, as the pair go toe to toe for a Champions League place next season - of course, both teams could qualify if Italy earns a fifth spot via its UEFA coefficient.
After five wins from five during February, Bologna have prevailed in exactly half of their 26 league fixtures this season: Sassuolo, Lecce, Lazio, Fiorentina and, most recently, Hellas Verona were all swept aside last month.
An unexpected return to Europe is surely on the cards for the resurgent Rossoblu, whose head coach has drawn admiring glances from major clubs across the continent's top leagues.
Bologna have only achieved six straight Serie A wins twice in their history - and both were nearly 60 years ago - but Motta may lead them to such an achievement on Sunday evening, which would see his stock rise even higher.
Team News
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Particularly with next week's Europa League clash against Portuguese giants Sporting in mind, Atalanta's Gian Piero Gasperini will be delighted to have no fitness concerns to contend with.
Heading into another busy spell of the season, Ademola Lookman has fully recovered from an ankle injury, so Aleksei Miranchuk may find his place at risk, with either man likely to join Teun Koopmeiners and Charles De Ketelaere in the final third.
Meanwhile, Bologna can now call upon Alexis Saelemaekers, who has also overcome an ankle problem and returned to full training, meaning Adama Soumaoro should be their only absentee at the Gewiss Stadium.
Dutch striker Joshua Zirkzee - the visitors' leading scorer, with 10 goals in all competitions - was recently joined by Riccardo Orsolini on nine Serie A strikes for the season.
The latter made his Serie A debut for Atalanta in September 2017 and has since been involved in five goals against them - including two goals and a match-winning assist in the last three matches.
Atalanta BC possible starting lineup:
Carnesecchi; Scalvini, Djimsiti, Kolasinac; Holm, De Roon, Ederson, Ruggeri; Koopmeiners; Lookman, De Ketelaere
Bologna possible starting lineup:
Skorupski; Posch, Beukema, Lucumi, Kristiansen; Freuler; Orsolini, Ferguson, Fabbian, Ndoye; Zirkzee
We say: Atalanta BC 1-0 Bologna
Expect a tight game between two well-drilled sides on Sunday evening, as Atalanta and Bologna are evenly matched in many respects. Both feature in this season's top three for Serie A goals after the 90th minute, so it may not truly be over until the final whistle.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Jonathan O'Shea
