Back to Serie A: ready for Atalanta v Inter?

Team

— Jan 16th 2022

6 MIN READING

Stats and facts ahead of Sunday's 20:45 kick-off

MILAN – After a gruelling 120 minutes in the Super Cup on Wednesday which saw Inter beat Juventus to claim the trophy the Nerazzurri are back in action on Sunday. Simone Inzaghi’s men will be heading to Bergamo to face Atalanta at the Gewiss stadium for a 20:45 kick-off. Inter sit top of the table on 49 points after 20 games, boasting the best attack and the second-best defence (51 goals scored and 16 conceded). Meanwhile their hosts on Sunday have picked up 41 points from 20 matches and are the third most prolific team in the division, having found the net 44 times.

THE FORMBOOK

This could become the third time that a team has scored in 40 Serie A matches in a row. Inter are sitting at 39, bettered only by Juventus in December 2017 (44) and March 2014 (43). On top of that the Nerazzurri are one of only two teams (Bayern Munich the other) to have scored in every game played this season in the five major European leagues.

Inter have racked up at least 49 points after 20 games in a Serie A season for the third time since the introduction of three points for a win – the other seasons being 2006/07 (54) and 2007/08 (50).

The Nerazzurri have kept a clean sheet in their last four Serie A games away from San Siro, an achievement which they have never managed to better since the introduction of three points for a win (four clean sheets in a row away from home also in October 1994 and in January 2006).

For the first time in their history, Atalanta have reached the 40-point mark after the first 20 games in a Serie A season (41 so far this season). The previous record was 36 points, set last term.

Atalanta have won at home three times this season along with three draws and three defeats. They have taken 12 points at home so far this season, at least five less than any other side currently in the top eight.

After going on a run of six wins in a row, Atalanta have won only one of their last three league games,a 6-2 victory against Udinese last time out, with one defeat and one draw.

HEAD TO HEAD

Inter and Atalanta have faced each other 121 times in Serie A and the record books favour Inter, who have 64 wins compared to 24 for the men from Bergamo. There have also been 33 draws.

Inter are on an unbeaten run in the last six Serie A games against Atalanta. On four of these occasions the match ended in a draw with two victories and three clean sheets for Inter too.

Since the 2017/18 season Atalanta have failed to score in five out of nine matches against Inter in Serie A, at least two more times than against any other team in that period.

PREVIOUS ENCOUNTERS AT ATALANTA

In the last eight games played in Bergamo between Atalanta and Inter in the league both sides are evenly matched with two wins apiece and four draws.

Atalanta have not repeated the same result in two games in a row in any of their last 10 home games against Inter in Serie A. During that time they have notched up three wins, two defeats and five draws (including one in the most recent home match against the Nerazzurri, which finished 1-1 in November 2020).

Inter have scored in 22 of their last 23 Serie A away games against Atalanta with the only exception being a 0-0 draw in April 2018. There have been a total of 96 goals scored away from home by Inter against Atalanta.

GENERAL STATS

Inter (603) and Atalanta (614) have had the most touches of the ball in the opposition’s box and have picked up the most points from losing positions (14 Atalanta, 13 Inter tied with Lazio) out of all Serie A teams.

The Nerazzurri have opened the scoring more times than any other side in the division (16) and are the only team which haven’t lost a game when they have scored first (four wins out of four times when this has been the case.)

Atalanta and Inter sit at opposite ends of the ‘Goals scored from dead ball situations’ table in Serie A: the Nerazzurri have scored 17 times from set pieces in Serie A, more than any other opponent, while the Bergamo side have just three.

Although Inter have the best attack of the league having scored 51 goals times, Atalanta have scored the most times in open play (on 41 occasions to Inter’s 34).

Gasperini's team have conceded the least amount of goals from dead balls in Serie A so far this season (five) while no team has conceded fewer goals than Inzaghi's in open play (nine, the same as Napoli). No team has conceded fewer headed goals than Atalanta this season (one, like Venezia), while Inter have scored more headers than any other side (13).

PLAYER FOCUS

Four of the ten players involved in at least 13 goals this season play for Atalanta (Duvan Zapata and Mario Pasalic) or Inter Milan (Hakan Calhanoglu and Lautaro Martinez) - all of them have contributed in the scoring of 13 goals.

HakanCalhanoglu and Luis Muriel have the best assists-per-minute records in Serie A (from players who have provided at least four assists): Atalanta’s forward has contributed one every 148 minutes while the Nerazzurri’s midfielder has recorded one every 166 minutes.

Edin Dzeko is the only player to have scored more than one goal from his right foot, left foot and head in the 2021/22 Serie A season. The Bosnian has scored seven goals against Atalanta in the Italian top flight, which make them his favourite opponent alongside Bologna.

Lautaro Martinez has scored three goals in five games against Atalanta in Serie A, including one in his first and most recent games against the Bergamo side.

Milan Skriniar has scored five of his ten goals in Serie A in winter, and one of these goals came against Atalanta in March 2021.

Joaquin Correa has scored two goals in his last three games against Atalanta, all while playing for Lazio.

The only free kick scored by Nicolo Barella in Serie A came in September 2018 against Atalanta, while the midfielder was still playing for Cagliari.

Danilo D'Ambrosio scored his first Serie A goal in September 2012 against Atalanta while playing for Torino. The defender also found the net the last time he started against the Bergamo side back in August 2020.

The next time Alessandro Bastoni and Arturo Vidal play it will be their 100th and 50th appearances for Inter respectively. Also potentially hitting appearance milestones will be Samir Handanovic (350), Danilo D’Ambrosio (200) and Matias Vecino (100).

Roberto Gagliardini played his first 14 Serie A games in 2016 for Atalanta. What’s more, Bastoni also made his debut in the Italian top flight for the Bergamo side, featuring seven times for the club between 2017 and 2018.