Monza - Atalanta 0-2
A strike from Hojlund and an own-goal from Marlon gave Atalanta a 2-0 victory over Monza, sending La Dea back to the Serie A summit. In turn, Monza also became only the third Italian top-flight debutants ever to lose all of their opening five league games.
Perhaps knowing the two previous teams suffering that fate were both ultimately relegated, Monza started like a team possessed, and Atalanta were on the ropes inside the opening five minutes, needing two sensational Juan Musso stops to deny Stefano Sensi and Gianluca Caprari from opening the scoring.
In a sign of La Dea’s meek start, Ederson’s tame effort from outside the area was Atalanta’s only notable action on goal in the first half - underwhelming for a side who had led at half-time in three of their four prior league games this season.
Visiting coach Gian Piero Gasperini was visibly displeased with his side's first-half showing, and elected to shuffle his pack at the break, introducing Brandon Soppy into the mix.
And while the high-flying full-back wasn’t directly involved in Hojlund’s early chance, the woodwork was, denying the Danish international a first Atalanta goal.
It would come soon enough though, and Soppy was involved in the opener, feeding Ademola Lookman, who drilled a ball across the face of goal for Hojlund to finally open his account for the Bergamo side.
Atalanta’s opener seemed to knock the stuffing out of Monza, and the visitors sensed there was more goals in this game for them, and when Ademola’s cross-shot deflected in off Marlon to double Atalanta’s advantage, the game was out of Monza’s reach.
Monza kept plugging away and came close to halving the arrears through Andrea Colpani, but it wasn’t enough to prevent Atalanta from regaining their perch at the Serie A summit.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Ademola Lookman (Atalanta)
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Salernitana - Empoli 2-2
Empoli capitulated to a sixth straight winless match despite mustering a 2-2 draw against Salernitana at the Stadio Arechi, with the draw turning out to be the Azzurri’s third straight unbeaten Serie A away head-to-head match.
Trouncing Sampdoria 4-0 at home two rounds prior sure did hand Salernitana an edge in morale coming into the clash, but it didn’t affect Empoli in the least, as Sam Lammers forced Luigi Sepe into a fantastic save from an inside-the-box shot to register the game’s first real chance.
Posing more of a threat than the Granata’s previous opponents, the away outfit advanced with the intention of overturning their lack of goalscoring potency that so far hindered their progression, and finally broke the hosts’ resistance in the 31st minute.
An excellent team move from the left wing saw Liam Henderson feed the ball perfectly into the path of Inter Milan loanee Martin Satriano, who made no mistake nodding the opener - his first goal in the Italian top flight.
Salernitana midfielder Tonny Vilhena then saw a great chance denied from point-blank range, before Pasquale Mazzocchi mazed past six Empoli players to execute a world-class solo dribble and etch a low drive past Guglielmo Vicario to make it 1-1.
With nine of Salernitana’s last 12 league matches witnessing the same half-time result at full time, Davide Nicola went into the break expecting his side to show fine balance after restart as they bid to extend their unbeaten league streak to four matches.
That is exactly what the Salerno side exhibited, attacking Empoli in a bold manner and at the same time displaying tenacity in their defensive third when threatened.
Shot-stopper Sepe proved vital in keeping the visitors at bay, but it was Boulaye Dia who turned the scoreline around right on the hour mark, tapping home an accurate cross to extend his goalscoring streak to three consecutive matches.
Thereafter, the Azzurri began looking like a shadow of the side that started the clash, with tactician Paolo Zanetti going on to replace all five of his midfield men, perhaps seeking to take control of the match.
A glimmer of hope emerged 10 minutes before the final whistle, with Dutch forward Lammers in the spotlight once again, as he went on to lodge a deflected shot into the back of the net to equalise.
The result means Empoli have now drawn four in a row for the first time since January 2015, in turn handing Salernitana a sixth winless match in the last seven encounters.
Both teams will look forward to maintaining their unbeaten momentum in the coming week when they take on Roma and Juventus respectively.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Tonny Vilhena (Salernitana)
