Sampdoria vs Atalanta preview - Balance key for Stendardo

Atalanta defender Guglielmo Stendardo drew on the teachings of a popular Brazilian novelist to describe La Dea's return to consistency.

Head coach Stefano Colantuono has restored balance to the Bergamo outfit after overseeing a shaky start to the season, with the Orobici's surprise 1-0 victory over Napoli in midweek completing a seven-point haul from three outings.

The Orobici are now in 10th place and Stendardo hopes to tip the scales towards the top-half of the table with a similar performance at Sampdoria.

He told the Corriere dello Sport: "I like reading, I've just finished a (Paulo) Coehlo book - `Manuscript found in Accra' - which talks about how people need to find balance in life, and that applies to sport too.

"And that's the thing I love most about being in Bergamo. After giving your all for Atalanta you can still return to day-to-day life and that's how it should be.

"We need to forget about the Napoli game, that's in the past.

"We're up against an opponent with a lot of quality up front, but one that has lost five games in a row.

"It will be hard to win in Genoa, but I'm convinced that we'll play a good game."

Midfielder Carlos Carmona was only in the starting XI given Luca Cigarini's absence, but Colantuono may be tempted to keep faith with the Chilean after his early goal sealed victory against Napoli.

Cristian Raimondi should continue get the nod over Gian Bellini at right-back, with Federico Peluso deputising for Davide Brivio on the other side of the back four.

Atalanta may be in rude health but these are testing times for Samp head coach Ciro Ferrara, who is under pressure to reverse a depressing run of five losses on the spin.

The latest blow was a controversial 3-2 reverse at Inter Milan which culminated in the former Juve boss being sent to the stands.

But director of sport Rinaldo Sagramola came out in support of the 45-year-old, telling Gazzetta.it: "Is Ferrara at risk?

"No, I don't think a bad run of results can take away from the work he has done in recent months.

"The team played really well against Inter. Ferrara has our backing."

Samp's list of absentees makes grim reading, with suspended Andrea Costa joining Gaetano Berardi, Enzo Maresca, Pedro Obiang, Nenad Krsticic and Nicola Pozzi on the sidelines.