Serie A

Atalanta vs Salernitana rounds off matchday 16

Atalanta are looking to kick on from their win over AC Milan and move closer to the Champions League spots. Salernitana, bottom, absolutely need a victory

After a run of four games in which they picked up just one point (D1, L3), Atalanta returned to winning ways when they beat AC Milan to drew within touching distances of the other teams fighting for European football. Filippo Inzaghi’s side, on the other hand, need points in a bid to lift themselves off the bottom of the table and not fall too far behind in the race for survival. At the time of writing, no team has taken fewer points away from home than Salernitana this season (two in seven matches) nobody has scored fewer goals away from home (just four).

DID YOU KNOW?

Salernitana have only accumulated eight points so far: only three teams in the era of three points for a win have avoided relegation at the end of the season despite totaling eight points or fewer in the first 15 matches of a Serie A campaign (Hellas Verona 22/23, Salernitana 21/22, and Crotone 16/17). Salernitana have conceded seven goals in the first 15 minutes of play (the worst record in Serie A this season) and 11 in the first half hour of the match (another negative record), including four of the last five they have conceded in the competition.

HEAD-TO-HEAD

Salernitana beat Atalanta in their last Serie A match (1-0 on May 13, 2023, with a goal from Candreva in the 93rd minute), after three draws and two defeats in their first five matches in the competition against the Bergamo side. The match in Bergamo last season (January 15, 2023) between Atalanta and Salernitana ended 8-2 in favor of La Dea: it’s the only time in a Serie A match that Atalanta have scored at least eight goals.

PLAYERS

Gian Piero Gasperini has won all five Serie A encounters as a coach against Filippo Inzaghi (the latest being Atalanta 2-0 Benevento in May 2021): the current Atalanta coach is the one against whom the former Milan striker has suffered the most defeats in the top-flight, while Inzaghi, among the coaches against whom Gasperini has a 100% win rate in the competition, is the second most frequently faced (behind Roberto D’Aversa, 6/6). Ademola Lookman scored two goals in his only Serie A match played against Salernitana (in the 8-2 of January 2023): the Nigerian has 19 goals in the top-flight with the Nerazzurri shirt. Among players who made their debut in the competition with Atalanta in the three-point era, he could become the first to reach 20 goals before recording 50 appearances. Atalanta are one of only two teams against whom Simy has scored in three different Serie A matches: the Nigerian striker has found the net in three of his five league encounters against La Dea, including the last one played in Bergamo on March 3, 2021.

DISCIPLINE

Suspended: Fazio (Salernitana) Cautioned: Maggiore (Salernitana)

REFEREE

Feliciani (Rossi-Cipressa), IV: Marchetti, VAR: Nasca, AVAR: Irrati

UPCOMING MATCHES IN SERIE A TIM

Bologna-Atalanta (Saturday 23 December, 15:00 CET) Salernitana-Milan (Friday 22 December, 20:45 CET) (Photo LaPresse)