Atalanta have the chance to cause an upset this week as they prepare to host Manchester City in the UEFA Champions League.

 

Atalanta (19/4)

Despite not really being able to thrive in the Champions League as they would’ve initially hoped thus far, Atalanta are still a really tough side to come up against – and they’ve proven that in Serie A. They have a few consistency issues and, defensively speaking, they’ve got some work to do, but we can’t help having fun when watching them out there on the pitch. If they can draw in a few more big names over the course of the next few transfer windows, they’ll be able to do wonders with their forward-thinking approach.

Atalanta have only secured two wins in their last six games, but even with that being the case, the wins were fairly impressive. They were able to dismantle Udinese 7-1, and they also looked comfortable against Lecce in a 3-1 win. They had entertaining draws against Napoli and Lazio which really tested them to the limit, and they struggled against Cagliari in their last league outing. Against City in the reverse fixture, they were humbled 5-1.

Manchester City (1/2)

Retaining the Premier League title once again is going to be a big priority for Pep’s side this season, but lifting a trophy high in Europe is also one of their primary goals, as you can probably imagine. Their strength in depth often ensures that they can give teams a lot of problems even when they aren’t at what is perceived to be ‘full strength’. There’s a very good chance that we haven’t even seen them play at their best yet, which is a pretty terrifying prospect.

City fans will be doing everything in their power to forget about the recent 2-0 loss they suffered at the hands of Wolverhampton Wanderers, but thankfully for them, their side has been pretty flawless since then. They battered Atalanta 5-1, they beat Southampton 3-1 in the Carabao Cup and then 2-1 in the Premier League, they eased to victory over Crystal Palace and they also looked dominant against Aston Villa.

Conclusion

Atalanta didn’t exactly roll over against City in their first meeting, but they came pretty close to doing just that. Pep Guardiola’s men are well aware of the fact that they haven’t won the Champions League before, and they’re going to go all in on proving that they belong at the top table with the rest of Europe’s elite. City are going to have some fun here and while it may take a little while for them to truly get into the rhythm of their own game, we can’t see them walking away with anything over than a convincing win.

We’re almost certain that this is going to hit the over 2.5 goals threshold, too, and we wouldn’t be surprised if it’s all City when it comes to the actual goalscoring.

Verdict: Back the away win at odds of 1/2 and the over 2.5 goals scored at odds of 2/7. (All odds are taken from bet365).

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