Juventus host Serie A’s perennial over-achievers Atalanta at the Allianz Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Despite consistently operating on a wage bill that ranks in the bottom half of the division, Atalanta have finished as Italy’s third-best team in each of the last three seasons and go into the weekend’s fixtures in the Champions League spots.

Juventus are one of only two teams to have accrued more points in Italy’s top flight since the summer of 2018 than their plucky opponents but, after a stuttering start to the current campaign, trail Atalanta by four league positions and as many points.

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When is kick off? Saturday 27 November, 17:00 (GMT)
Where is the match being played? Allianz Stadium
TV channel/live stream? BT Sport 2 (UK), Paramount+ (US)
Highlights? BT Sport/Serie A YouTube Channel
Referee? Giovanni Ayroldi
VAR? Marco Di Bello

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Team straight to training after morning return from London.

— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) November 24, 2021

Juventus seemingly emerged physically unscathed from their Champions League excursions in midweek, but the mental knock a 4-0 thumping from Chelsea may take longer to shake off.

Danilo wasn’t quite so fortunate in Juve’s last Serie A outing, limping off after a quarter of an hour with a partial tear in his left adductor, ruling the Brazilian international out for around two months.

Fellow defender Giorgio Chiellini (Achilles) is also set for a lengthy absence, though Mattia De Sciglio is nearing a return from a hamstring issue. Both Federico Bernardeschi and Aaron Ramsey returned from international duty this month with niggles that are expected to rule them out for this weekend’s match.

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Davide Zappacosta had to be carried off the pitch in Atalanta’s six-goal thriller away to Switzerland’s Young Boys on Tuesday. The 29-year-old’s blow to his ankle adds to an injury list that had been beginning to mercifully dwindle of late.

Following 21-year-old centre back Matteo Lovato, Zappacosta becomes the latest defender to be snatched away from Gian Piero Gasperini by injury. However, Atalanta’s totemic tactician did hint at a potential return for left wingback Robin Gosens on Saturday, with his fellow flyer Hans Hateboer nearing the end of a tumultuous recovery period.

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Juventus (4-4-2): Szczesny; Cuadrado, De Ligt, Bonucci, Sandro; Chiesa, Locatelli, Arthur, McKennie; Dybala, Morata

Atalanta (3-4-2-1): Russo; Toloi, Demiral, Palomino; Maehle, De Roon, Freuler, Gosens; Ilicic, Pasalic; Zapata

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Atalanta may have claimed a 1-0 victory in the last meeting between these two sides but the history of this fixture leans strongly in Juve’s favour. Ruslan Malinovskiy’s 87th-minute deflected strike earned La Dea’s first Serie A win against Juventus since Atalanta bested a Bianconeri side containing Zinedine Zidane in 2001.

Overall, Atalanta have claimed just 12 wins from the 120 league matches in this fixture. Juve’s dominance is even more inflated on home soil; despite carving out a point on each of their last three league visits to the black and white slice of Turin, Atalanta have won just four times away to Juventus in their history – their last such victory coming back in 1989, when just one member of their current squad was alive.

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Four defeats already this term may well have dashed Juve’s title hopes, but Champions League qualification is far from assured for the side that lies eighth after more than a third of the season. With Inter clawing their way closer to the runaway top two of Napoli and Milan, fourth-placed Atalanta serve as a notable barrier to the Bianconeri in this regard.

This may be Atalanta’s best start to a Serie A season under Gasperini but La Dea’s underlying numbers point towards a drop off at both ends of the pitch. Juventus are hardly a portrait of glowing consistency themselves but, with the sting of midweek’s defeat still fresh, may cancel out their upcoming visitors.

Prediction: Juventus 1-1 Atalanta