The Teams

Currently third place in the Serie A standings, Atalanta B.C. travel to Mapei Stadium to take on 11th place US Sassuolo Calcio. This match should bring lots of goals as both teams have double digits in goals for. An inconsistent Sassuolo team will not have it easy though, as Atalanta have looked impressive in the majority of their matches.    

After getting embarrassed in their first-ever UEFA Champions League match just over a week ago, Atalanta B.C. have stepped up their game. After trailing 2-0 to ACF Fiorentina, they came back and tied the match 2-2 in an absolute thriller. Then on Wednesday they travelled to Rome and dismantled AS Roma 2-0. This Atalanta squad is a pleasure to watch and Saturday's match against Sassuolo should be no different.

Coming off a disappointing midweek 1-0 loss to Parma Calcio 1913, thanks to an own goal from Mehdi Bourabia, Sassuolo will be hoping to rebound at home against a tough Atalanta squad. With that said, Sassuolo's weekend opponents will be even tougher than their previous opponents.  

Potential Lineups 

Sassuolo (4-3-3): Andrea Consigli; Jeremy Toljan, Vlad Chiriches, Gian Marco Ferrari, Federico Peluso; Manuel Locatelli, Pedro Obiang, Alfred Duncan; Domenico Berardi, Francesco Caputo, Gregoire Defrel

Atalanta (3-4-2-1): Pierluigi Gollini; Rafael Toloi, Berat Djimsiti, Andrea Masiello; Timothy Castagne, Marten de Roon, Remo Freuler, Robin Gosens; Josip Ilicic, Papu Gomez; Duvan Zapata  

Injuries 

Sassuolo looks to be without young Brazilian left-back Rogerio due to injury and attacking midfielder Filip Djuricic looks set to miss out as well. 

Atalanta looks to be without forward Luis Muriel. On the bright side, coach Gian Piero Gasperini looks to have just about everyone else at his disposal for the match on Saturday. 

Who to watch 

Although Sassuolo have had an up and down season thus far, a few of their players are off to flying starts. Keep an eye on attackers Domenico Berardi and Francesco Caputo. Arguably the most in-form forward this season, Berardi has picked up five goals and two assists in just four games. Whereas Caputo has three goals and one assist in five games. Lastly, midfielder Alfred Duncan has chipped in offensively also, collecting one goal and three assists in just three matches played.   

Not to be outdone, Atalanta have a few influential attackers of their own, such as; Duvan ZapataPapu Gomez and Josip Ilicic. Zapata is off to a flying start to the season, picking up four goals and one assist in just five Serie A games. Captain Gomez is the man to drive this team forward and their main setup man, having collected three assists in five games. Ilicic has only picked up one assist this far but he is the creative piece to this Atalanta squad and when on his game, he is a game-changer. 

Match details 

The clash between Sassuolo and Atalanta takes place on Saturday evening at 7:45 p.m (GMT+1). Sassuolo will be hoping to get back in the winning column and Atalanta will be hoping to stay hot with another victory, this should make for an exciting match up.  

Both teams are able to put the ball in the net, as both squads have lots of firepower up top. The difference-maker will come down to the defence and what defensive unit will allow fewer goals. 

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