Preview: Atalanta BC vs Fiorentina – prediction, team news, lineups

Two teams desperately need overdue serie a The breakthrough will come on Sunday evening in Bergamo, when Atalanta BC hosts surprise struggling Fiorentina.

Although La Dea’s midweek win in Europe took some of the pressure off, the Viola lost again on Thursday and are in full-blown trouble.

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match preview

Atalanta’s continental results are in stark contrast to their domestic form, having beaten Eintracht Frankfurt in Germany before beating Marseille at the Stade Velodrome.

On Wednesday night, Ademola Lookman’s successful strike gave La Dea a three-goal lead in just five second-half minutes, and Eintracht were unable to respond.

New boss Raffaele Palladino’s win on his Champions League debut leaves them at least in the running for the knockout playoffs – Atalanta now sit 10th in the table, higher than their ranking. serie a,

Despite a turbulent start domestically, the Nerazzurri are well placed to progress, while only Inter Milan, Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain have kept more clean sheets in UEFA’s top competition since the start of last season.

However, in Italy’s top flight, they have accrued only 13 points after 12 match days – representing the club’s worst start since 2014 – and their last win dates back to September.

Under Palladino and his predecessor Ivan Juric, the Bergamaschi have been winless in eight Serie A matches, and the last time they waited that long for a win was in 2016.

After losing 3-1 to reigning champions Napoli last week, Palladino will be looking to make an impression against his old club this weekend, having won 24 of 51 games in charge of Fiorentina last season.

While Atalanta languish in mid-table, Fiorentina languish at the bottom serie aFollowing last week’s 1-1 home draw with old foes Juventus.

The Tuscan club last won a league game in May, having accrued its lowest number of points at this stage of the campaign.

The last team to avoid relegation after such a start, without a win in the first 12 match days, was Cagliari almost 20 years ago, so new coach Paolo Vanoli’s first task is to ensure safety.

Following two home draws and a defeat in the Conference League earlier this week, the former Torino boss has not made much of an impact so far.

With only two shots on target at the Stadio Franchi, the Viola were defeated 1–0 by AEK Athens, extending their overall winning streak to seven matches – as a result, the two-time finalists finished in 17th place.

The worry is that Fiorentina – who have conceded the most set-piece goals (10) in Serie A this season – are struggling at both ends of the pitch, with high-profile strikers Moise Kean and Edin Dzeko also failing to fire.

Atalanta BC Serie A Form:

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Atalanta BC form (all competitions):

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Fiorentina Serie A form:

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Fiorentina form (all competitions):

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team news

Although Atalanta face a busy schedule, Palladino will surely save any major changes for next week’s Coppa Italia clash with Genoa.

Only Giorgio Scalvini, who is close to recovering from an adductor problem, and long-term absentee Mitchell Baker are currently unavailable.

La Dea’s front line should be led by Nikola Krstovic or Gianluca Scamacca, the latter of whom found the net as a second-half substitute last weekend.

Many are vying to back La Dea as their lone striker, but Lookman is set to start after being close to his best form on Wednesday; The Nigeria international has been directly involved in six goals in the last five matches against Fiorentina.

While Atalanta are beginning to find some confidence in attack, the visitors are struggling for a regular source of goals: Keane has scored just twice for his club this season after registering 25 top-flight strikes in 2024-25.

Although Dzeko has previously scored nine times against Sunday’s opponents in Serie A, the 38-year-old frontman has failed to score a single league goal since moving to Florence in the summer.

Not only is another unsuccessful striker, Bergamo-born Atalanta youth graduate Roberto Piccoli, struggling with an ankle problem, Vanoli will be without Robin Gosens – who was also previously with La Dea. Christian Koume and Tariq Lamptey are still sidelined; Dodo is a doubt.

Atalanta BC probable starting lineup:

Carneschi; Gimsiti, Hien, Kolasinac; Bellanova, De Roon, Ederson, Zalewski; De Ketelair, Lukman; scamacca

Fiorentina probable starting lineup:

De Gea; Pongracic, Mari, Ranieri; Fortini, Fagioli, Mandragora, Soham, Parisi; Gudmundsson, Keane

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We say: Atalanta BC 2-0 Fiorentina

Highlighting their decline since competing for the Scudetto in the middle of last season, Atalanta have won just three of 17 Serie A home matches in 2025.

However, after finding a lost spark on Champions League duty, they look set to inflict more misery on an ailing Fiorentina side.

Please click here for data analysis of the most probable outcomes of this match, scoreline and more.

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