Atalanta BC, who are still behind the Italian top six, face off in good form. Serie A On Monday night, the Cremonese to Bergamo strugglers.

While the hosts have revived their league campaign and are now in the Coppa Italia semi-finals, Cremo must be feeling down after nine games without a win.

match preview

Atalanta, with 23 points from 12 league games, have climbed the table since Raffaele Palladino took over as manager in November and maintained their momentum in midweek.

After defeating fellow top-six contenders Como with a tenacious performance last weekend, La Dea, who played almost the entire game with 10 men and relied on saves from Marco Carnesecchi to earn a 0-0 draw, stormed through a tough cup competition on Thursday night.

Atalanta avenged their defeat in the 2024 final with a clinical 3-0 victory over Juventus and will advance to the Coppa Italia semi-finals, where they will face either Lazio or holders Bologna.

Gianluca Scamacca calmly converted a penalty to continue their comeback, before substitutes Mario Pasalic and Kamarudin Slemana scored deep in the second half to seal the hosts’ eighth clean sheet in Paladino’s short reign.

They will also face Borussia Dortmund in a two-legged Champions League play-off later this month, but they must now turn their attention to Serie A, which sits seventh, just outside of a guaranteed spot in Europe.

Next up to visit the New Balance Arena will be free-falling Cremonese, giving the Nerazzurri the chance to make it their fifth consecutive home win in domestic competition.

Cremonese, who came from behind to draw 1-1 in October, have yet to win a league game against Atalanta in either of Italy’s top two leagues this century.

Furthermore, they have never taken maximum points from Bergamo in Serie A, and history will weigh on them on Monday in addition to their current form.

Atalanta have conceded the fewest goals in the league in 2026 (just one goal conceded), but no team has scored fewer goals than Grigio Rossi, who have scored just two goals this calendar year.

Now without a goal in four games, Davide Nicola’s side are without a win in nine games and are now in crisis after a very positive start.

The Lombardy club remain out of the drop zone, one of several teams with 23 points, but renowned survival specialist Nicola is under pressure to turn things around.

Cremo’s lack of goals continues with last week’s 0-2 defeat to title-chasing Inter Milan, and the list of opponents is unforgiving. In the next four matches they have to play against Atalanta, Roma and AC Milan.

Atalanta BC Serie A form:

WWWDWD

Atalanta BC form (all competitions):

DLWLDW

Cremonese Serie A Form:

LDLDLL

team news

The hosts will be without teenage centre-back Honest Ahanoglu and captain Marten de Roon, both of whom were sent off last week, due to suspension, but Palladino will have a full squad to choose from following the long-awaited return of Mitchell Bakker.

Having made minimal changes in midweek, he will lead a stable squad with Gianluca Scamacca leading La Dea’s attack ahead of Nikola Krstovic.

Former Cremonese goalkeeper Carnesecchi will aim for his seventh clean sheet in 2026. This year, he posted the highest save percentage (96%) across Europe’s top five leagues.

The Italy Under-21 star will be tasked with thwarting Cremonese’s errant strikers Federico Bonazzoli and Jamie Vardy, who have scored just five league goals for some time, although Vardy scored in a come-from-behind effort.

Recent signings Milan Djuric, Sebastiano Esposito and Youssef Maré all featured against Inter, with the latter replacing key midfielder Jari Vandeput, who was suffering from a muscle strain.

The Belgian could return on Monday, with wing-back Tommaso Barbieri also set to return from suspension, but Nicolas will be without the injured trio of Michele Colocolo, Antonio Sanabria and Warren Bond.

Atalanta BC’s projected starting lineup:

Carne secchi. Scalvini, Jim City, Kolasinac. Zappacosta, Edelson, Pasalic, Zalewski. De quetelaere, raspadori. Scamacca

Candidates for Cremona’s starting lineup:

Audero. Terracciano, Basillotto, Ruperto. Barbieri, Thorsby, Grassi, Marais, Pezzella. Vardy Bonazzoli

Atalanta BC 2-0 Cremonese

Now back in form, Atalanta’s attack has become sharper, while they have had the best defensive performance in Serie A since the beginning of this year.

In contrast, Cremonese are unable to buy goals and last season’s Serie B play-off winners are clearly lacking in confidence and look set to suffer another defeat.

Click here for data analysis including the most likely outcome, scoreline and more for this match.