Serie A Matchday 20 Odds & Picks: Atalanta vs Lazio, Roma vs Verona & More

• Serie A Matchday 20 kicks off this Friday from January 29-31
• Ac Milan is 9-1-0 (WDL) against Bologna since January 6, 2016
• Read on for the odds and our best bets from Serie A Matchday 20 here

After several teams were involved in the Coppa Italia quarterfinals during midweek, league play returns in Italy with Serie A Matchday 20 from Friday-Sunday.

Torino will play host to Fiorentina Friday afternoon, followed by three matches on Saturday and another six on Sunday.

Keep in mind that each of AC Milan, Inter Milan, Atalanta, Lazio, Juventus, Napoli and Spezia played in the Coppa Italia during this week. For Napoli and Spezia, they played as recently as Thursday, so will have the shortest turnaround. The first legs of the semifinals will also be played next Wednesday which will involve Inter Milan vs Juventus and Napoli vs Atalanta.

Let’s look ahead to the odds and best bets from the Serie A Matchday 19 schedule below.

Serie A Matchday 20 Odds

All odds taken Jan 28 at Bet365

Bologna vs AC Milan Prediction

Bologna enters their Serie A Matchday 20 game against leaders AC Milan in 13th-place when the two meet at 9:00 am EST Saturday morning.

Two rounds ago, Bologna managed to snap a run of eight matches without a win when then defeated Verona 1-0 at home. However, last weekend they were back in the loss column, unsurprisingly though, falling 2-0 to Juventus.

A look at the #SerieATIM League Table!
Here are the standings 19 matchdays in. ⚽️#WeAreCalcio pic.twitter.com/gcVziEVwlX

— Lega Serie A (@SerieA_EN) January 24, 2021

I struggle to see how Bologna will come away from this match taking any points from the league-leaders. Not only does current form point towards a Milan win but so does history. Milan were already 2-0 winners over Bologna this season. They also swept the head-to-head meetings last season by scores of 3-2 and 5-1.

Bologna hasn’t defeated Milan since a 1-0 win back on January 6, 2016. Since that time Milan hold the edge at 9-1-0 (WDL), outscoring Bologna 21-6 in those ten meetings.

Furthermore, Bologna has played a team ranked seventh or higher on seven occasions this season. In six of those matches, they have allowed two or more goals. Their record in those matches is 0-1-6 (WDL) while being outscored 17-5.

.@Inter_en 🆚 @acmilan#CoppaItalia Quarter final
Final Result: 2️⃣ – 1️⃣
A last-minute free kick by #Eriksen: #Inter conquers derby and semi-finals!#WeAreCalcio pic.twitter.com/jczbeZbaxP

— Lega Serie A (@SerieA_EN) January 28, 2021

AC Milan are coming off two tough defeats but against two top sides: 2-1 to Inter in the Coppa Italia and 3-0 to Atalanta in the league. Prior to this, they had kept clean sheets in four of five matches overall.

Milan look likely to bounce back and scoring at least two goals should ensure a win.

Pick: AC Milan win (-118)

Atalanta vs Lazio Prediction

It’s likely the match of the round and a matchup we just saw play out on Wednesday in the Coppa Italia, won 3-2 by Atalanta. The two sides will go at it again on Sunday in Serie A Matchday 20 at 9:00 am EST.

I spoke of each team’s recent form heading into their Coppa Italia match, noting how each side has been rolling of late. After Wednesday’s win, Atalanta are now undefeated in 14 overall matches. At home, they’ve scored less than three goals only once in seven matches. While Lazio is still undefeated in five in Serie A, with their Coppa Italia loss on Wednesday snapping their six-match overall undefeated streak.

Objective achieved: 3 goals bring @Atalanta_BC to the semi-finals! #CoppaItalia #WeAreCalcio pic.twitter.com/t4Lg2W8UhS

— Lega Serie A (@SerieA_EN) January 27, 2021

On Wednesday, despite both teams rolling out rotated lineups, we still saw a boatload of goals. Atalanta’s Duvan Zapata started on the bench until the 59′ minute, while Josip Ilicic didn’t play at all. Lazio’s Ciro Immobile meanwhile only touched the pitch as a sub in the 71′ minute. The score was already 3-2 before either of those subs came on and was 2-2 at the half.

Lazio were given a great opportunity to take over the match when Atalanta’s Jose Palomino was given a straight red in the 54′ minute of play. However, it was La Dea who scored the deciding goal minutes later. They had a chance to extend the lead to 4-2 as well, but Zapata failed to convert on a 67′ minute penalty.

Now, across all competitions, at least two goals have been scored in the past six meetings between Atalanta and Lazio. The past four have all seen both teams scoring and at a bare minimum, a total of five total goals scored.

With some fresh attackers likely to return to the starting XIs of both sides this weekend, I think betting on both teams finding the back of the net, and at least three goals being scored looks likely.

Pick: Both Teams to Score & Over 2.5 Goals (-125)

Roma vs Verona Prediction

Serie A Matchday 20 rounds out with AS Roma hosting Hellas Verona at 2:45 pm EST on Sunday afternoon.

Roma currently sits third in the table, while Verona is eight, though it’s arguably Verona who has been in the better form of late. However, technically both have collected ten points in their past five matches.

Verona has just one loss in their past five and are coming off an impressive 3-1 home win over Napoli last weekend.

"The team that hosted Roma on the first day of the season was very much still under construction. Now there is a much better understanding. They have a clearer idea about their attributes."
#ASRoma #RomaVerona
https://t.co/QCNFo5aqlx

— AS Roma English (@ASRomaEN) January 28, 2021

For Roma, though they are coming off a 4-3 win over Spezia last weekend, it’s their only win in their past four overall matches. Prior, they drew with Inter Milan 2-2 and lost 3-0 to Lazio in the league, while losing to Spezia in the Coppa Italia.

That they played Spezia in back-to-back matches and again conceded three goals in the last weekend’s win and only scored the winner in the 93′ minute, will be especially concerning to manager Paulo Fonseca.

The teams played earlier this season where they drew 0-0 in Round 1. However, Verona were handed a defaulted 3-0 victory afterward. This, because it was found that Roma substituted a player (Gonzalo Villar) listed as an under-23 player, when in fact he was 23. Last season the scorelines between these teams read 2-1 and 3-1 for Roma.

Along with Spezia and Sampdoria, Roma are tied atop the league for the most matches that have gone OVER 2.5 goals at 15-4. On a goals per game basis, Roma matches have seen the most goals all year at 3.8 GPG. That is in stark contrast to Verona, who can be found on the other end of the table. Their matches average the fewest total goals at 2.3.

‘Structural changes are coming’ at #Roma after the costly mistake from Serie A Week 1, when the club lost 3-0 by default against #HellasVerona. #SerieA #Verona #VeronaRoma https://t.co/8hFdInpVuB pic.twitter.com/sgaeOPIq4O

— footballitalia (@footballitalia) September 24, 2020

Roma have kept just a single clean sheet in their past nine matches in Serie A and have shown to be especially shaky on the backend of late. They are the league’s top team at home though, with a perfect 7-3-0 record—the only team still undefeated on their home pitch.

I think both teams score here (-150) and likely both score with at least three goals (+100). The best value may come with a Roma win and both teams scoring at odds of +220. Given some of Roma’s shaky performances though of late, my favorite bet lies with a Roma double chance (win or draw) bet, plus both teams scoring. This can be made through Bet365’s bet builder option and will cash so long as both teams score and Roma doesn’t lose.

Pick: Roma – Double Chance + Both Teams to Score (-105)