Atalanta BC go into Sunday's meeting with Frosinone in Bergamo carrying the sort of form that turns a routine league fixture into a problem. They have lost back-to-back matches, fallen 2-0 to Ajax in Amsterdam in the Conference League and now stand on five defeats in their last seven games across all competitions.
That is why this one is being searched now. Atalanta trail Frosinone by four points before kickoff, and the visitors arrive with 13 points after beating Sassuolo 4-2 last time out. Antonio Raimondo scored a hat-trick in that game and has seven goals from seven league games, a return that gives Frosinone a striker in form at exactly the moment Atalanta need control rather than chaos.
The numbers also explain the scale of the problem for Atalanta. Sead Kolasinac has joined Giorgio Scalvini, Isak Hien and Odilon Kossounou on the sidelines, leaving them short of central-defensive options, while Kamaldeen Sulemana and Giacomo Raspadori are also unavailable. Franck Kessie remains a major doubt as he struggles to recover from a calf strain. That uncertainty matters because the match is not just another weekend fixture; it is a direct test of whether Atalanta can stop the slide before it becomes a deeper crisis.
There is, though, one reason they will not feel beaten before they start. Atalanta have won all three previous Serie A games against Frosinone in Bergamo, and Frosinone have failed to score in seven of eight meetings between the sides across Italy's top two tiers. In Serie A alone, the aggregate scoreline is 17-2 against Frosinone, which says as much about the size of the task as it does about the visitors' current momentum.
Still, the contradiction sits right in the middle of this match: Atalanta are struggling badly, yet this is also a home fixture against an opponent they have handled before. Frosinone have made an unexpectedly strong start after promotion from Serie B, and that makes Sunday less about history than about whether Atalanta can use theirs to steady a season that is already wobbling.
The answer may turn on Kessie. If he is fit, Atalanta can at least add one more experienced option to a thin squad. If he is not, Sunday becomes a test of survival as much as a test of form.
