Gian Piero Gasperini reveals Ademola Lookman is ruled out of Monday’s clash with Fiorentina, noting Atalanta and the Viola are the ‘loose cannons’ of this Serie A season.
It kicks off at the Stadio Artemio Franchi on Monday at 19.45 UK time (18.45 GMT).
The Viola are practically in the Conference League semi-finals after a 4-1 win away to Lech Poznan on Thursday and have one foot in the Coppa Italia Final too.
“We have to focus on our own progress and not the teams around us,” said Gasperini in his press conference. “I always said that playing in Europe does use up energy, but it also boosts your confidence and enthusiasm.
“Just like Fiorentina, we are trying to cause problems for the big six in the table and be something of a loose cannon, but we go into this round with a healthy margin.
“These teams know each other well, I expect a balanced game that could turn on an incident. Fiorentina are in a very positive period of form, they’ve caught up lost ground in Serie A and that’s why we should be very pleased to still be ahead of them.”
While La Dea are on 48 points going into this weekend, the Viola have 41.
Atalanta have a packed treatment room at the moment and the situation is only getting worse, as Lookman has been ruled out by a muscular problem.
He joins Matteo Ruggeri and Hans Hateboer, while Teun Koopmeiners and Mario Pasalic are also far from fully fit.
Gasperini has recently shelved Lookman and Rasmus Hojlund in favour of veteran forwards Luis Muriel and Duvan Zapata.
“I hope they can give a decisive contribution to the game. In this style of football, strikers can change the balance of a match and having them in the best condition is important.”