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Serie A Preview: Siena – Atalanta

Relegation threatened Siena and Atalanta clash on Sunday afternoon in the 13th matchday of the Italian top flight.

Nov 20, 2009 12:54:17 PM

Emanuele Calaiò - Siena-Palermo - Serie A (Grazia Neri)

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Emanuele Calaiò - Siena-Palermo - Serie A (Grazia Neri)

Teams

Kick-off: Sunday, November 22, 2009, 1500 (CET)
Stadio Artemio Franchi, Siena

Relegation Issue

Siena will host Atalanta on Sunday at the Artemio Franchi stadium in what is already important relegation match between two teams who have gone through a bit of trouble this season.

The Bianconeri’s last win dates back to the end of August when in the second matchday they defeated Cagliari 3-1 away from home. After that, the team have obtained just three points in 10 games played.

The Nerazzurri’s situation might not be as grave as their opponents', but in recent weeks things have gone wrong with three consecutive league defeats in a row.

Change Of Coach

For Siena, replacing Marco Giampaolo at the helm of the squad has yet to show any concrete results, even though there were signs of improvement in their Coppa Italia win against Grosseto last week.

However, this is the first real test for coach Marco Baroni who will need to bring out the best from his players in order to climb up the standings.

Inconsistent Results

Since Antonio Conte’s arrival on the bench, Atalanta enjoyed some positive results at first, before going through this current negative period, even though their defeats were suffered in two away games and one home match against Juventus.

This match could prove important to see which is the real Atalanta side: the one admired in the first few games under Conte, or the most recent one.

Past Encounters

In the past few years encounters between Siena and Atalanta at the Artemio Franchi have been quite common, as in five years they met five times, one of which in the Coppa Italia.

From these five encounters, the home side won twice, the Bergamaschi obtained just one win (Coppa Italia) with the remaining two games ending in a draw.

The last time they met was in January of this year, with the match ending in a 1-0 win for the Tuscan side.

FORM GUIDE

Siena

November 12 v Grosseto (H) - WON 2-0 (Coppa Italia)

November 08 v Genoa (A) - LOST 4-2 (Serie A)

November 01 v Lazio (H) - DREW 1-1 (Serie A)

October 28 v Bologna (A) – LOST 2-1 (Serie A)

October 25 v Juventus (H) – LOST 1-0 (Serie A)

Atalanta

November 07 v Juventus (H) - LOST 2-5 (Serie A)

November 01 v Cagliari (A) - LOST 3-0 (Serie A)

October 28 v Livorno (H) – LOST 1-0 (Serie A)

October 25 v Parma (H) – WON 3-1 (Serie A)

October 18 v Udinese (A) - WON 1-3 (Serie A)

TEAM NEWS

Siena
Baroni will have to do without the injured Rossettini and Parravicini, but otherwise can count on a full squad as there are no players suspended. However, Codrea needs to be careful as he is carrying a yellow card into this game.

Probable Starting XI (4-4-2): Curci; Rosi, Ficagna, Brandao, Del Grosso; Reginaldo, Vergassola, Codrea, Fini; Maccarone, Paolucci

Atalanta
The Nerazzurri will be without some important players as Valdes, Manfredini and Barreto are all ruled out due to injuries, whereas Doni and Guarente are suspended. Bianco and Peluso are just one yellow card from suspension.

Probable Starting XI (4-4-2): Consigli; Garics, Bianco, Peluso, Bellini; Ferreira Pinto, Radovanovic, De Ascentis, Padoin; Tiribocchi, Acquafresca

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Massimo Maccarone (Siena)
Maccarone remains the Tuscan side’s main player and a lot of hope relies on his ability to put the ball in the opposition net. So far he scored four goals, but obviously the Bianconeri will need more than that if they want to survive this season.

Robert Acquafresca (Atalanta)
Maybe because of the many players unavailable, but also because Conte wants to give another chance to the Italian striker who has been extremely disappointing this season. The Nerazzurri might start collecting more points once he finds back the scoring form he had at Cagliari.

PREDICTION

The missing players for the Bergamaschi will not help their cause, but the team cannot afford another defeat and will most likely do their utmost to obtain at least a point from this game against the bottom team in Serie A.

Siena 1-1 Atalanta

Glenn Debattista, Goal.com

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