PREVIEW ATALANTA VS JUVENTUS

Having emerged as Inter’s main Scudetto rivals, Juventus are looking to end 2008 on a high, but they face a testing trip to an Atalanta outfit on decent form.

After a slight slump, Atalanta are back on track and sitting proudly in seventh place. The Orobici bounced back from their shock defeat at Reggina with wins over Udinese and Lazio and would’ve added Genoa to that list were it not for a late equaliser last weekend.

Gigi Del Neri’s men are firmly in the UEFA Cup qualification race and their success has been based on their excellent record in Bergamo. La Dea have only conceded four goals on home soil all season and will look to remain resilient to grab a prestigious point when Juventus come to town.

Juventus can legitimately claim to be Inter’s main Scudetto rivals after beating Milan 4-2 last weekend. The Old Lady are six points behind the leaders but are alone in second place, three points ahead of Milan. While Alex Del Piero insists it’s too early for title talk, Turin is buzzing and starting to believe Inter aren’t invincible.

However, anything less than three points in their final game of a superb year would be a huge anti-climax and would allow Inter to build a formidable lead. The Bianconeri have four wins from their last five and are strong favourites, but canny Claudio Ranieri knows better than to take anything for granted.

Juve thrashed Atalanta 4-0 last year and the history books are emphatically stacked in their favour. Atalanta’s last League win over the Old Lady was back in February 2001 and Juve have triumphed over them eight times in Serie A since.

Antonino D’Agostino, Luca Cigarini and Alessio Cerci are injured for Atalanta. Gianpaolo Bellini and Claudio Rivalta are suspended.

Juventus have been excelling without a huge number of players. David Trezeguet, Jonathan Zebina, Gigi Buffon, Hasan Salihamidzic, Dario Knezevic, Christian Poulsen, Tiago Mendes and Mauro Camoranesi are all absent. However, there’s good news for Pavel Nedved who has overcome his injury worries.

Keep an eye on: Amauri (Juventus) – The Brazilian’s prolific form with the Old Lady continues. Juve’s new Zlatan Ibrahimovic sank Milan with a brace last weekend and has scored 10 Serie A goals already.

Last season: Atalanta 0-4 Juventus