Hellas Verona Atalanta preview - Toni striving for victory

Posted Saturday, December 07, 2013 by PA

Luca Toni and his Hellas Verona team-mates are hungry to halt their winless run when they host Atalanta on Sunday.

Hellas have lost their last three Serie A games and have conceded seven goals in the process, culminating in Monday night's 4-3 defeat to Fiorentina.

And Toni knows that things must improve if they are to avoid squandering their impressive start to the season.

"The last few weeks have been difficult in terms of results and we have tried to understand what went wrong without forgetting what we have done before," he said. "Now we must focus on getting a win on Sunday.

"We need to show that grit that we displayed earlier in the season.

"We are having a great campaign and we cannot forget that we are sixth in the standings.

"However, we cannot throw the good work we have done so far away.

"We need to be more focused on defence."

Hellas, coached by Andrea Mandorlini, will, nevertheless, fancy their chances against Atalanta.

The Verona outfit has won six and lost just one of their seven games at the Marc' Antonio Bentegodi stadium this season.

Moreover, Atalanta's record on the road has been terrible, with the Bergamaschi collecting just three points of a possible 21 away from home.

Atalanta captain Giulio Migliaccio knows his team must reverse that trend, starting on Sunday.

"We struggle when playing on the road while at home we do well," he said. "The numbers say that we have to improve.

"We will try to do that starting at Verona because we deserve to be in a better position in the standings than we are now."

Atalanta held Roma to a 1-1 draw last time out in the league and lie 11th in the standings.

The hosts will be without midfielder Bosko Jankovic, who serves his first of a two-match ban this weekend while defender Fabrizio Cacciatore is also suspended.

Atalanta midfielder Luca Cigarini must serve a one-match ban.