Champions League: Can Atalanta Avoid Anfield Humiliation?

Champions League: Can Atalanta Avoid Anfield Humiliation?

Liverpool vs Atalanta

Liverpool are closing in on a place in the Champions League knockout phase. The English champions were perfect during the first half of the group stage with three wins out of three, the most convincing of which was their Diogo Jota-inspired demolition of top group challengers Atalanta in Bergamo.

The Reds continue to play some excellent football despite some key absentees, and they will be keen to seal qualification to the round of 16 at home.

Atalanta will be equally keen to avoid suffering another humiliating defeat at Anfield, but with the Italians suffering a significant dip in form, the Champions League 2020 betting odds of them picking up a positive result aren’t particularly promising.

Talking Points

Liverpool still look great amid absentees

Despite their long list of absentees, Liverpool just continue to take care of business. They went back to joint-top of the Premier League after thrashing Leicester City 3-0 at home.

With Mohamed Salah out due to Covid, new boy Diogo Jota got another start and once again got on the scoresheet for the Reds.

Jota has already scored seven goals for Liverpool this season and has found the net in each of his four matches at Anfield. His only away goals in his Liverpool career thus far came in his incredible hat-trick against Atalanta.

The good news for Liverpool is that Salah has tested negative and looks set to return to the line-up in midweek. But with so few fit players remaining, Jota will likely get another chance to make more Champions League 2020 highlights against that Atalanta defence.

Midfielder Naby Keita became the latest Liverpool player to go down with an injury, joining the likes of Virgil van Dijk, Thiago Alcantara, Jordan Henderson, Joe Gomez and Trent Alexander-Arnold on the sideline.

But despite missing so many defensive-minded players, Jurgen Klopp has still found a way to keep things tight at the back. They’ve conceded just three goals in the seven games since van Dijk went down and have yet to allow a single goal in three Champions League matches.

Atalanta struggling for form

Atalanta will not head to Anfield in the best of form. They came back from the international break with a disappointing goalless draw against newly-promoted Spezia over that weekend. With that result, Atalanta have now won just one of their last six matches in all competitions.

The compressed nature of this season has taken its toll on the squad. Star forwards Papu Gomez and Duvan Zapata are likely starting to feel the fatigue from playing so many games in quick succession. Meanwhile, Josip Ilicic has returned to the squad after missing the end of last season, but he has yet to rediscover the form that saw him become one of the best players in Italy last year.

The sheer number of games has forced manager Gian Piero Gasperini to use as much of his squad as possible. But the newcomers’ lack of cohesion has likely contributed to their significant dip in form.

Atalanta have been playing more conservatively since their 5-0 hammering at home against Liverpool. They’ve only attempted 20 shots in their last two games, which is on the low end for them. Gasperini will likely stick with that conservative approach to avoid getting humiliated again at Anfield.

History

This will be the second meeting between the two sides. Their first match a few weeks ago saw Liverpool completely dominate at Gewiss Stadium.

Diogo Jota was absolutely unplayable as he scored his first career Liverpool hat-trick in a 5-0 win. Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane both scored a goal each and also set up another.

Liverpool have a fine record against Italian opposition at Anfield, with eight wins in 13 games (four losses, one draw).

Betting Tip

Liverpool Asian Handicap -1.00 @ 2.16

Unsurprisingly, SBOTOP odds have Liverpool as significant 1.67 favourites to pick up another win at Anfield. Atalanta are priced at 4.60 to score a potential upset, with a draw at 3.95.

There’s not much reason to expect this match to be all that different from their first meeting. Liverpool have been in outstanding form, particularly at home, where they are now 64 matches unbeaten in the league. And they will have their best player, Salah, back in the fold.

Meanwhile, Atalanta have been in awful form. Their prolific attack has been a shadow of itself and the defence continues to have major question marks.

Look for Liverpool to produce a convincing performance at Anfield en route to another comfortable home win.

Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.

Do you want to be informed about bookmakers' latest promotions?

 Click  and subscribe!