The Serie A returns after the holidays, the 18th match day will take place this wednesday, amongst the games the duel between Atalanta and Napoli.

For the two teams the new year begins with a match that is traditionally seen as very important by the two supporters sides, but also from the sportive point of view it is very important, above all for the north italian team: Atalanta had made quite a decent start to the championship, but now they find themselves in the relegation zone, and for sure the players and their coach Conte want to leave this zone as quickly as possible. They could do so by beating Napoli, but it wont be easy, considering also the last results of the nerazzurri (only 1-1 in the last test against Serie D team Tritium, a match followed by lively discussions between Atalanta's players and their fans).

Unfortunately for Atalanta, their visitors from Naples won't make life more easy for them. Napoli starts into the new year with a lot of ambitions, the team of Mazzarri is on the 6th place with only three points from the 3rd place and the Champions League zone. Napoli can therefore be quite optimistic, and their slovakian forward Marek Hamsik, who has been voted best player by Napoli's fans, has recently said in an interview that he expects a "super year" for himself and for his team. 

The facts:
Atalanta Bergamo vs Napoli Calcio
Wed 6th Jan 2009
Stadio Atleti Azzurri d’Italia, Bergamo
kick-off at 3 p.m.

Our tip:

Atalanta needs some points in order not to lose touch with their direct concurrents (with a defeat they could finish on the last place of the table), but Napoli will not go to Bergamo to distribute post-christmas presents.Anyway in front of their home crowd Atalanta should be able to get at least one point.

My tip is x, the best odd is to be found at expekt.com with 3,10.