Overview
With hopes of reaching the top 4 increasingly slim, AS Roma was forced to regain form when hosting Pisa, and newcomer Donyell Malen shone at the right time.
The Dutch striker's hat-trick helped the capital team win convincingly, thereby having their 11th home win in 16 appearances in Serie A this season at the Stadio Olimpico stadium.
Previously, Giallorossi only won 4 points after the last 5 rounds and lost the advantage in the race to win tickets to the Champions League. However, the results in the recent round have helped them rekindle hope.
While Juventus rose to fourth place, Como lost to Inter Milan in a dramatic 7-goal match. Currently, the gap between the three teams is only 3 points, while Atalanta is closely following behind.
However, Roma has not maintained stability when they have not won 2 consecutive matches in Serie A since January. Besides, off-field problems have also begun to affect the team.
Internal tensions between coach Gian Piero Gasperini and Director Claudio Ranieri could become distractions. Roma is not allowed to lose focus when facing Atalanta, an opponent they have only won 1 of their last 11 home games, and also lost 0-1 in the first leg this season.
Atalanta shows superiority in recent encounters when they have won all 4 of their last matches, and also won 6 of their last 7 encounters with Roma.
The Bergamo team is also in dire need of a victory, as they are 4 points behind Roma in a context where there are only 6 rounds left in the season, and are even further behind Juventus.
Last weekend, Atalanta lost 0-1 to Juventus right at home. Despite not playing badly, coach Raffaele Palladino's team still suffered a defeat - their second defeat in Serie A this year.
Currently ranked 7th, Atalanta still has a chance to win a European cup spot, likely the UEFA Europa Conference League, depending on the final result of the season.
Another path is the Coppa Italia, where they will host Lazio in the second leg of the semi-finals after a 2-2 draw away from home. The championship will bring home a ticket to the Europa League.
In the immediate future, Atalanta needs to focus on the important away match in Serie A, where they have only won 5 out of 15 away matches this season.
Personnel situation
AS Roma will be without Lorenzo Pellegrini for at least 3 weeks due to injury. However, key center-back Gianluca Mancini is likely to return in time.
Before the reunion with his old team, Gian Piero Gasperini still faced difficulties in terms of force when Manu Kone and Wesley continued to be absent, along with the trio of strikers Paulo Dybala, Artem Dovbyk and Evan Ferguson in the injury list.
Good news came to the Stadio Olimpico team when Niccolo Pisilli is expected to recover from the injury sustained on the training ground. Meanwhile, Mario Hermoso has not reached his best physical condition but can still start from the beginning.
After a brilliant performance last week, Donyell Malen aims for the milestone of 10 goals in Serie A since joining in January.
On the opposite side, Atalanta can give a starting spot in attack to Nikola Krstovic or Gianluca Scamacca.
Notably, Krstovic (5.4) and Malen (4.5) are currently the two players with the highest average number of shots per 90 minutes in Serie A this season.
After returning to the bench in the match against Juventus, Scamacca is ready to play. Currently, La Dea is only missing Isak Hien, Kamaldeen Sulemana and reserve goalkeeper Francesco Rossi due to injury.
Expected lineup:
Svilar, Mancini, Ndicka, Hermoso, Celik, Cristante, El Aynaoui, Rensch, Soule, Pisilli, Malen.
Carnesecchi, Scalvini, Djimsiti, Kolasinac, Zappacosta, De Roon, Ederson, Bernasconi, De Ketelaere, Zalewski, Krstovic.
The match between Roma and Atalanta takes place at 1:45 am on April 19 (Vietnam time).
