Milan climbed back into the Champions League spots after winning 1-0 at Monza on Saturday, their third consecutive win in all competitions after a run of seven games without a victory.
They are now fourth on 44 points from 23 games, level with third-placed Roma and three points above Atalanta in sixth.
Among Milan's recent wins - all 1-0 - was their uplifting last-16 Champions League home victory over Tottenham Hotspur.
However, reigning champions Milan have not yet won four successive games this season and the last time they enjoyed more victories in a row without conceding was five years ago.
"It's easy to be a team when things are going well, it was much less easy to overcome those three or four difficult weeks," coach Stefano Pioli (57) said on Monday when he was named best Serie A manager at the 2021/22 Italian football coaching awards.
"We are fighting for the top four places in the league which is an important goal. We have seen how good it is to play in the Champions League, we want to play in it again next year."
However, Milan's top-four push faces a hurdle when they host Atalanta, who are also pushing for a European spot.
Pioli's side have picked up only one point in their last four matches against sides in the top six in Serie A, with their last such win coming in September against Inter Milan.
VULNERABLE ATALANTA
But it is a good time to face Atalanta, who have lost three out of their last four matches in all competitions. Their recent downturn includes losses to lowly Sassuolo and Lecce.
Before their decline in form, Atalanta had earned four wins and two draws in their first six matches of 2023.
"It is more difficult to play against Milan than Lecce, but it depends also on how it starts," Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini (65) said after their 2-1 loss at home to Lecce.
"We too often concede goals after the opening five minutes, that is a bad sign."
Lecce took the lead in the fourth minute at Atalanta last weekend, scoring with their only two shots on target in the game.
Leaders Napoli on Saturday travel to mid-table Empoli, who they beat 2-0 earlier this season.
Napoli have scored 56 goals and conceded only 15 in the league this season - the most scored and fewest conceded in the top flight this term.
They are the third side in the last 60 years to have a goal difference higher than 40 at this stage of a campaign, after AS Roma in 2003/04 (+41) and Juventus in 2017/18 (+44).
Massimiliano Allegri's Juve side, who visit Nantes in their Europa League second-leg tie on Thursday with the score at 1-1, host Torino in the 'Derby della Mole' on Tuesday. Seventh-placed Juventus and Torino in ninth are separated by one point.
Juve have only lost one of their last 33 matches against Torino in the top-flight - 2-1 in April 2015 - with 24 wins for the Bianconeri and eight games ending in a draw.
