Stats and trivia ahead of Inter vs. Atalanta

MILAN – The Nerazzurri are set to play their second fixture of 2020 and their first at San Siro: following their win away to Napoli, Antonio Conte’s men will face Atalanta at 20:45 CET on Saturday. We’ve teamed up with Opta to provide you with all the statistics that you need to know ahead of the match.

PREVIOUS MEETINGS BETWEEN INTER AND ATALANTA

The upcoming fixture will be the 117th time Inter and Atalanta have faced each other in Serie A. In the 116 meetings so far, the Nerazzurri’s record reads as follows: 62 wins, 30 draws, 24 defeats.

Inter’s recent record at home to Atalanta has been positive: the Nerazzurri have won four and drawn once (the 0-0 stalemate last season) in the last five meetings between the sides, only conceding one goal in the process. However, Inter haven’t got the better of Atalanta in Serie A the last three times they’ve played them (two 0-0 draws and a 4-1 defeat) after having won five in seven against La Dea prior to this (one draw, one defeat).

Only Juventus (214) have found the net more against Atalanta than Inter (207) in the Italian top flight. The most frequent result between the sides in Serie A is 1-1. This has been the scoreline on 20 occasions and last occurred in January 2016.

Inter have won their last six Serie A games against Atalanta at the Meazza during the first half of the season, keeping a clean sheet in four of these fixtures (including the three most recent).

FORM GUIDE

Inter sit on 45 points after 18 league fixtures this season. In the three-points-for-a-win era, the Nerazzurri have only done better on two occasions: in 2006/07 (48 points) and 2007/08 (46 points). Inter have picked up 20 points at home and 25 away: only Lecce (seven) and Brescia (six) have a higher points difference favouring their away record compared to what they’ve achieved at home this campaign.

Atalanta have scored 48 goals in 18 matches this season: the last team to find the net 48 times or more after this many fixtures in a single Serie A season was Fiorentina in 1958/59. Should they score, La Dea would become the most prolific Serie A side after 19 games in the past 60 years.

Atalanta have picked up 34 points from 18 games, a record for them at this stage of the Serie A season. Furthermore, the team from Bergamo has never achieved more than a 35-point haul during the first half of the season in Italy’s top tier (they picked up 35 points in 2016/17).

Atalanta have lost just one of their past 15 away matches in Serie A (nine wins, five draws), this defeat coming in their last outing on the road against Bologna. They haven’t lost two consecutive matches away from home since November 2017 when they lost three in succession, including against Inter.

Atalanta didn’t concede in their last two Serie A matches. The last time La Dea kept three successive clean sheets was in March 2017.

GENERAL STATISTICS

Inter have found themselves in leading positions for the longest number of minutes so far this season: 846, at least 263 more minutes than any other side.

Inter have scored the most headed goals (five) in home matches in Serie A during the current campaign and, along with Verona, are one of two sides not to have conceded in this manner on home soil.

Inter have conceded just one goal from dead ball situations this campaign (a penalty against Verona), less than any other team. Furthermore, the Nerazzurri have had the highest number of goalscorers up to this point: 13, just ahead of Atalanta who have had 12.

Atalanta have had 144 shots on target, the second-best total in the Top 5 European Leagues and 16 ahead of Real Madrid, who sit in third place with 128. Only Manchester City (145) are ahead of La Dea in this regard.

The upcoming match will pit the team that has scored the most goals in the first half of matches this season (Inter with 22) against the side that has scored the most in the second period (Atalanta, 27).

Together with Cagliari, Atalanta are one of two sides not to have conceded from shots taken outside the box so far this campaign. Furthermore, La Dea have scored the most from distance (nine) up to this point.

PLAYER FOCUS

Romelu Lukaku has scored 14 goals in 18 league fixtures so far, his best-ever total after this many games over the course of his career. The last player to score at least 15 goals in 19 matches in their first season in Serie A was Andriy Shevchenko in 1999/2000.

Out of all the players to have scored at least twice this campaign, only Ciro Immobile (1.12) and Cristiano Ronaldo (0.87) can boast at having a better goal average than Romelu Lukaku (0.78).

Only the attacking duo of Robert Lewandowski and Serge Gnabry (39 goals) have netted more than Inter’s striking pair of Lukaku and Lautaro (30 in total) in the Top 5 European Leagues when goals scored in the league, Champions League and Europa League are taken into consideration.

Marcelo Brozovic has provided four assists in his last five Serie A appearances, one more compared to how many times he set up his teammates to score in the 46 matches prior to this.

Roberto Gagliardini and Alessandro Bastoni both debuted in Serie A while at Atalanta and turned out 14 and seven times for La Dea in the competition respectively.

Stefano Sensi’s first away goal in the Italian top flight came against Atalanta in September 2017.

Out of the goalkeepers that have made at least 12 appearances this season, Samir Handanovic has the highest save percentage (77%).

Josip Ilicic’s first Serie A goal came against Inter in September 2010 while he was on Palermo’s books. The same player has been involved in eight goals against the Nerazzurri (four goals, four assists). Only against Bologna (nine) has he done better.

Alejandro Gomez is the player to have scored the most goals during the first 15 minutes of games (three from six goals), while Lautaro Martínez has found the net most (six from nine goals) in the first 30 minutes of play so far this campaign.

COACHES

Antonio Conte made his Serie A coaching debut in charge of Atalanta in September 2009 and went on to collect 13 points from as many games (three wins, four draws, six defeats).

Antonio Conte has won each of his three games as a coach against Gian Piero Gasperini in Serie A.