Monza hosted Atalanta at the U-Power Stadium on Sunday afternoon in a Serie A meeting that looked built for goals. The home side had scored in all 10 of their league matches this season, while Atalanta arrived with a similarly open record that made this one hard to frame as anything but lively.
Greg MacLean said it was a match he expected to be high scoring, and the numbers backed him up. Monza had scored multiple goals in three of their four home matches, had recorded only one clean sheet, and had shipped 24 goals overall. Their opening 10 matches since promotion back to the Italian top flight averaged 4.10 goals per game, with Both Teams to Score landing in nine of those 10 and Over 2.5 Goals also landing in nine.
Atalanta were not carrying a conservative profile either. They had scored 16 goals across their opening 10 Serie A matches this campaign, scored multiple goals in four of their last five, and failed to keep a clean sheet in each of their last eight league outings. During that run, they had conceded 19 goals, while their first 10 Serie A matches averaged 3.60 goals per game, with Both Teams to Score landing in seven and Over 2.5 Goals landing in eight.
That is why the fixture drew attention well before kickoff: the form lines on both sides pointed in the same direction. The one thing that did not sit neatly was the coaching reference attached to the visitors, with Ivan Juric and Maurizio Sarri both appearing in the same frame despite the preview being about Monza and Atalanta rather than a managerial story.
The only piece missing was the final score. On the evidence available before Sunday afternoon, Monza and Atalanta were a goals market in waiting, and the match was set up to confirm that view rather than challenge it.
