Serie A Matchday 27 Odds & Picks: Top Four Sides Atalanta vs Lazio Highlight League’s Return

• The first full Serie A round of fixtures begins on Monday with ten matches spread over Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday
• Top four sides Atalanta and Lazio collide on Wednesday afternoon in the game of the week
• Read on for full Matchday 27 odds as well as our best bets for the week

Italian soccer has returned, first with the conclusion of the Coppa Italia tournament, and next with four matches over the weekend to make up the games in hand for some teams.

Monday marks the start of the first full fixture list in Serie A and will kick off with Fiorentina vs Brescia and Lecce vs AC Milan at 1:30 pm EST, followed by Bologna vs Juventus at 3:45 pm EST. Overall, the ten matches for the round will be played from Monday to Wednesday.

When we last left the league, Juventus were leading the charge towards the title, but by just a single point (63-62) over second-place Lazio. As the league picks back up there is still plenty to be decided in the title, Champions League, Europa League and relegation races over the next 12 rounds of play.

For now, let’s dive into this week’s action and break down the card with our best bets of the week.

Serie A Matchday 27 Odds

All odds taken June 22

Pick 1: Hellas Verona vs Napoli

It’s been an excellent season for Ivan Jurić’ Hellas Verona who sit seventh in the table with 38 points and a real shout at Europa League football next season. They’ll host a resurgent Napoli side, sixth with 39 points, at 1:30 pm EST Tuesday afternoon.

Gennaro Gattuso’s Napoli got their restart off to a strong start. They began with a 1-1 draw with Inter Milan in the Coppa Italia semifinals, which sent them into the finals against hated rivals Juventus, whom they upset on penalties to win 1-0 after regulation time.

Napoli has struggled mightily during portions of the season and have gone through serious periods of unrest with the coaching staff and management. However, Gattuso has seemed to have settled the Gli Azzurri, who had won five of their past six matches in the league prior to the stoppage. Across all competitions, they’ve now lost just once in 11 matches.

After the last 4 matches of Matchday 25, here is the standing 👇👇👇#SerieATIM #WeAreCalcio pic.twitter.com/FHSM2iMB9w

— Lega Serie A (@SerieA_EN) June 21, 2020

After lifting the cup last Wednesday, Napoli will be full of confidence and now switch their focus to an attainable, though maybe unlikely task of securing Champions Leauge or at least Europa League play next season. They find themselves 12 points back of fourth-place Atalanta after Atalanta’s win on Sunday.

Verona will have shorter rest in the turnaround for this one, having played at home to Cagliari on Saturday. The match got off to a wild start with Verona taking an early 2-0 lead after 26 minutes. They were then reduced to 10 men after Fabio Borini’s red card for tripping in the 35′ minute and Cagliari were able to pull one back before the break at the 43′ mark. That would be it for the scoring, though Cagliari would take a red card of their own in the 70′ minute, in what ended in a 2-1 win for Verona.

Becomes @en_sscnapoli’s all-time leading goal-scorer, signs a new contract with the club, wins the Coppa Italia.

All in a four-day span.

👏 @dries_mertens14 👏 pic.twitter.com/QAeHAUBlVr

— B/R Football (@brfootball) June 17, 2020

Verona have been a solid, yet unspectacular outfit all season. They’ve scored 31 goals compared to just 27 allowed in 26 matches. Those 27 goals allowed are right up there with the likes of the top three sides in the league.

But games against the team from Naples have not been kind to the I Gialloblu. Napoli has won each of the past six head-to-head meetings between the sides and have scored multiple goals each time. So lopsided have the encounters been that they’ve kept clean sheets in five of those wins and outscored Verona 15-1 during the streak.

In high spirits against a team they typically dominate, Napoli at just under even-money looks like great value.

Pick: Napoli win (-115)

Pick 2: Torino vs Udinese

Perhaps no two teams in Serie A could’ve used a fresh start in the league more so than 14th-place Udinese with 28 points and 15th-place Torino, now also on 28 points. The two will square off on Tuesday at 3:45 pm EST.

The Toros were in completely dreadful form when we last left them, having lost seven-straight matches, six in the league and one in the Cup. During that span, they were outscored 23-5. Ooof, that’s not good.

On Saturday they restarted their campaign in one of four makeup games this weekend in a 1-1 draw against Parma. So while the losing streak was halted, their winless run has now extended to eight matches across all competitions. Saturday’s contest saw each team score in the first half and Andrea Belotti fail to score on a penalty in the second half for Torino in what could’ve given them their first win since January.

🎙️| @MorenoLongo: "I'm happy for the performance, but not for the result. We barely conceded anything to Parma, while we wasted too many opportunities"#SFT pic.twitter.com/uAJcoiUpmV

— Torino FC English (@TorinoFC1906_En) June 20, 2020

Their opponents here, Udinese, hadn’t been fairing too much better prior to the stoppage having also gone winless in eight, seven in the league and one in the Cup. They had though, become somewhat of draw specialists with four straight draws 1-1, 0-0, 1-1 and 0-0 going into the stoppage.

Head-to-head these matches have also been tight of late with Udinese winning 1-0 earlier this season and Torino winning 1-0 last season, after an earlier 1-1 draw.

I could definitely see another draw (+210) or low-scoring affair in this one.

Pick: UNDER 2.5 (-150)

Pick 3: Atalanta vs Lazio

The first full round of fixtures concludes on Wednesday at 3:45 pm EST with a match with plenty of intrigue in both the title and top four races.

Atalanta were already in action playing a makeup game on Sunday at home to Sassuolo. The Nerazzurri went into the stoppage on a three-match win streak and the time off has not seemed to faze them. Atalanta came out firing taking a 3-0 lead into the half and even had a fourth goal called back from VAR. Duvan Zapata scored his second of the match late in the second half to give Atalanta a 4-0 lead and eventually went on to win 4-1. Sassuolo did have several decent scoring chances but could only muster a single goal in the dying moments in the 92′ minute off a free kick.

Atalanta have now extended their lead over fifth-place Roma by six points.

Lazio returns to the pitch for the first time since March and will be looking to pick up from where they left off prior to the stoppage.

Atalanta’s 74 goals after 26 Serie A rounds, are the most in 60 years! 6th most ever! Incredible. #AtalantaSassuolo

For context, current goals for:
74 – Atalanta
60 – Lazio
51 – Roma
50 – Juventus pic.twitter.com/qbpFFvVptJ

— Adriano Del Monte (@adriandelmonte) June 21, 2020

I Biancocelesti have the fewest defeats in the league (two) and have only lost four times in their past 29 matches. But none of those losses have come in Serie A, meaning their last league defeat was 30 games ago in a 1-0 loss to Inter Milan on September 25. Over a 21-game undefeated streak in Serie A, they are 17-4-0. In those matches, they’ve scored multiple goals on 17 occasions but did concede in 14 matches.

Recent history is split between these sides with the teams ending drawn 3-3 earlier this season and Lazio winning 2-0 in the Coppa Italia earlier last year. But Atalanta won 3-1 and 1-0 in the league last season and the teams drew 1-1 and 3-3 in the 2017/18 season.

It’s tough to know whether Lazio’s form, much like Atalanta’s prior to the stoppage will continue, but if it does, we should be in for a good match with a few goals.

Pick: BTTS & OVER 2.5 (-125)