Atalanta will have to try to win with their physicality despite facing an equally physical and well-organised team.

Serie A Enilive has another belter in store for us at the top of the table. It is a match that could be decisive in the Scudetto race: having battered Juventus last week, Atalanta will be welcoming Inter on Sunday evening and they will be looking to win and claim top spot, should Napoli not beat Venezia at the Penzo at 12:30 CET. Inter, on the other hand, after reaching the Champions League quarter-finals, will be looking to repeat their victory in the reverse fixture to stay at the top of the table without having to rely on the results of the teams behind them.

ON ATALANTA

The first thing to say is that Inter are unbeaten in their last 12 Serie A matches against Atalanta, winning their last five against them. La Dea’s last win was back in 2018 (4-1 at home).

The reason lies in the characteristics of the two sides: Atalanta are an energetic team that use their high physicality and technical quality to their advantage and it makes them a formidable side. However, when they come up against other physical teams like Inter, they tend to struggle.

As I said last week for Juve vs. Atalanta, Gasperini has a precise way of playing that he will not change, but his players will have to be on it in their one-on-one duels, above all in defence.

Gasp’s 3-4-2-1 could clash with Inzaghi’s 3-5-2 in this way:

Atalanta’s three forwards will go up against Inter’s three centre-backs, Atalanta’s four in midfield will face Inter’s five with two midfielders taking care of the wingbacks. Even though they will be numerically inferior in midfield, the three defenders will outnumber Lautaro and Thuram, and then, if needed, one of them could come forward to close down the attacking midfielder, Mkhitaryan for example.

ON INTER

While Atalnata will have to do without Posh and Cuadrado, Inter will have some key players missing including Dimarco, Darmian, Zalewski, De Vrij and Zielinski. However, with Carlos Augusto coming back, Inzaghi will stick with the 3-5-2.

Just like Gasperini, Simone Inzaghi’s team are well-trained and they know their system well. I believe Inter will be very compact and in certain moments they may tend to be rather conservative, determined to not lose too much ground against a physical side. In these parts of the match, it will not be quite as entertaining. Italy’s Champions are, however, able to control the pace of the match depending on the circumstances, so I expect them to be dynamic with fast breaks. Despite this, Inzaghi will make sure to maintain a numerical advantage at the back, even when attacking, to ensure that his side isn’t left vulnerable.

HOW TO WIN

I think Inter can only be hurt in one way: you have to attack the three centre-backs with runs from deep, it is the only weakness that I notice with Simone Inzaghi’s side. The three defenders are so strong in one-on-ones and with crosses, but they sometimes struggle with tracking late runs. For example, ball into Retegui and then a late run from the attacking midfielder or a full-back between the holding midfielders or between the centre-backs and defensive midfielder. And despite the focus on attack, Gasperini will have to prepare well defensively given that in his last five games against Inter, his side has conceded 16, scoring only five in this time.

There are teams that suffer less when they face a player on the half-turn, and Inter will have to do everything to avoid letting Atalanta keep the ball up the field. The two strikers, Lautaro and Thuram, will have to be very mobile to allow late runs from midfielders like Barella or Mkhitaryan. Normally, one of the two attackers drops deep while the other looks to get in behind. With either striker able to do both, on Sunday more than ever, they will have to alternate to avoid leaving these spaces open as they are so key to Gasperini’s side.

KEY PLAYERS

With regards to Atalanta, seeing as football is not all tactics, but also drama, tradition, and surprise, I am singling out Daniel Maldini, who scored his first Serie A goal against Inter and he will certainly want to keep his “family” tradition going against the Nerazzurri. Jokes aside, I think that it will be a tight and competitive game, so a player of his quality, coming on at some point in the game could give La Dea some freshness at a much-needed time.

As I have said, runs from deep could be devastating for Inter so I will have to look at Mkhitaryan for his quality, his running and his decision-making in important moments.

(Photo Getty Images)

Atalanta Inter Serie A