Tammy Abraham’s well-taken goal proved the difference, as Roma beat Atalanta for the second time this season and caught them in fifth place.
This was a head-to-head for fifth place and the Giallorossi were only missing Leonardo Spinazzola, as Nicolò Zaniolo chose to go without a protective mask after fracturing his nose, but Jose Mourinho continued his two-game touchline ban. Rafael Toloi was suspended, but Berat Djimsiti and Merih Demiral returned from their bans, with Duvan Zapata and Josip Ilicic injured. Luis Muriel and Ruslan Malinovskyi were only fit for the bench.
It was a very aggressive start from the hosts, Gianluca Mancini’s header from a corner thumping the crossbar after three minutes with the aid of Juan Musso’s fingertips.
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Davide Zappacosta went off after a knock to the eye left him unable to see properly, while Aleksei Miranchuk had penalty appeals waved away for a Nicola Zalewski nudge.
Roma took the lead when Matteo Pessina gave it away to Rick Karsdorp and Zaniolo laid it off for Tammy Abraham who skipped between centre-backs to fire in despite Musso getting a hand to it.
Luis Muriel was introduced for the second half and Zaniolo had the ball in the net only after wandering offside.
Rui Patricio rushed off his line to parry at the feet of Remo Freuler after a smart passing move down the left and smothered a Ruslan Malinovskyi scuffed attempt.
Jose Luis Palomino made a decisive sliding tackle on Zaniolo after Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s counter-attack, while Jordan Veretout and Abraham failed to make the most of Lorenzo Pellegrini’s pass.
Demiral’s header was straight at Rui Patricio on a Hans Hateboer cross, as Atalanta failed to score for the fourth time in their last seven Serie A games.
It got even worse in stoppages, as Marten de Roon was booked, he continued to vent his fury and received a second yellow card for dissent.
He was followed down the tunnel moments later by Mkhitaryan for his second yellow, an intentional handball to stop Malinovskyi.
Roma 1-0 Atalanta
Abraham 32 (R)
Sent off: De Roon 94 (A), Mkhitaryan 96 (R)