Football has come back again in Italy this weekend and the opening weekend draws to conclusion with this game of Lecce vs Atalanta being the first of two matches on Monday night.

Lecce

After winning Serie B back in the 2021/22 season, Lecce have managed to stay competitive and keep their place in Italy’s top flight and will aim to do that again this season but they facet tough opponents in their opening game. Last season they ended it in 14th place with 38 points, 8 wins, 16 losses and 14 draws. Escaping the relegation zone by just three points, Lecce have high hopes coming into the new campaign.

Having five pre-season matches might have taken a toll on Lecce, especially because they won twice out of those games. Despite losing the majority of the five games, they did total nine goals in that time span. If they can keep their goalscoring form, they could manage to cause un upset in this match against Atalanta.

Atalanta

Atalanta have gone from highs to lows recently. Winning the UEFA Europa League has guaranteed them a UEFA Champions League place for the upcoming season despite finishing in fourth place last year which would have seen them qualify anyway. They ended the season with 21 wins, 11 losses and 6 draws, making their total number of points for the campaign 69, one point higher than fifth placed Bologna and just two points below third place Juventus.

Pre-season has not gone well in the slightest for the Bergamo based club. A draw in their first of four matches and then going onto losing their next three games, including the Super Cup against European giants Real Madrid, is not what Gian Piero Gasperini will want for his side.

With key players Gianluca Scamacca and Giorgio Scalvani both unavailable for a while due to being out with cruciate ligament injuries, Atalanta might struggle to on both ends of the of the pitch in this one as they have an aging back line and whilst Ademola Lookman is good, he hasn’t hit the number of goals that Scamacca was able to provide last season.

What’s the tip?

Our betting experts have gone with a Draw. Atalanta have been struggling for form recently and with their injury list seeming like its growing ever game we can see them sharing the points. Lecce have impressed with their counterattacking football recently and they will no doubt use that to attempt to cause an upset.

What are the returns?

Through our bookmakers, you can get odds as good as 13/5 via Ladbrokes, Coral and QuinnBet. Provided a £10 stake is placed, the winnings you could see are £36.