With another edition of the ‘Hot or Not’ series rearing to go, we travel over to Italy to check on whose been making headlines – for both the right and wrong reasons.

The 2018-19 Serie A season is about to run down the final stretch. The title is already secured, along with many other league positions almost wrapped up, there are still some players who are shining above the rest and some who are ready for the season to be over.



Hot:

Alejandro Gómez, 31, Atalanta



Atalanta have been on fire lately, with a record of four wins and two draws in the past six games. Since the beginning of March, Atalanta has outscored their opponents 13-5. This is no doubt due to the fine form of their attacking minded players, specifically Alejandro Gómez. The 31-year-old Argentinian is mainly deployed as an attacking central midfielder who is out there to pull strings and open up the opposition’s defense.



The 5-foot-4 attacking midfielder is very quick on the ball. His low center of gravity and quick feet allow him to dribble past defenders with ease. Paired with his great vision and passing, he is able to play through balls and key passes often. He is also not afraid to try a shot from distance.



His attributes have racked him up six goals and nine assists in the league over his 28 starts and one substitute appearance. More recently, he has two goals and two assists in the past seven games, as well as three man-of-the-match awards.



Not known for his defensive contributions, he is an attacking minded player. He averages 2.8 shots per game. He also has a team high of an average three key passes per game, and with his nine assists, he is the league leader in assists. He is second on the team in dribbles per game, with an average of two completed dribbles per game. He plays about 45.3 passes per game, with a 84.9 percentage of pass success rate. He also contributes 2.7 crosses per game and 2.3 through balls per game.



The short Argentinian has been shining for his team in the league, showing that he is the real deal time after time. If it was not due to him pulling the strings, his team may find themselves lower in the table than they are at the moment. If Atalanta wish to push for a Champions League spot, they have to keep this form up and hope for a slip up from AC Milan. Gomez will be a key factor moving down through the final games of the season.



With 88 key passes, Alejandro Gomez is the most creative player in Serie A this season. Pjanic is at number 6 and Dybala at 13. pic.twitter.com/bqoJNyz4xk — Gary (@MessiLionel1O) April 8, 2019

Duván Zapata, 28, Atalanta



Duván Zapata scoring ability has him ranking amongst the top marksmen this season. In the league, he is in second place, one goal behind the league leader and one goal ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo of Juventus. Zapata has scored a remarkable 20 goals in 25 starts and five substitute appearances, also adding on five assists along the way. His 20 goals places him as the fifth highest scorer in the top European leagues. His goals have contributed to 31 percent of the team’s goals this season, and his goal contribution would be higher if you add in the five assists he has as well.



Despite his larger stature at 6-foot-1, he is not the best at hold up play; however, he likes to dribble to open up space for himself to get a shot off. Averaging 3.1 shots per game, he efficient when it comes to finishing. He is not a selfish player, either. He averages 18.4 passes per game with a 79.2 percent completion rate. He plays about 1.7 key passes per game and completes 1.1 dribbles per game.



His stats would be even higher if he could work on his hold up play, as well as his first touch and decision making. He often tries to dribble, and often gets dispossessed. His first touch often lets him down too, taking a bad first touch that causes him to lose the ball about 3.8 times per game.



Despite his weaker attributes, his strengths highly outweigh them. He is clinical in front of goal and has room to improve. His 20 goals and five assists has helped Atalanta into a fifth place position, poised to take fourth place if AC Milan slip up. Atalanta are pushing for a Champions League spot, and if Zapata and Gomez can continue their form, they will likely continue their fine form throughout the rest of the season.



He may also be on the move after having such a good season, but who knows where the wanted man could end up. He suggests it could be in London.



Duvan Zapata:

I used to support one team for each league. I liked Inter colours but I was in love with The Arsenal. In Colombia we love Premier League. Who knows. One day I could play there.



Serie A:

25 app

20 goals

5 assists pic.twitter.com/GYEGzx8fRW — IslingtonGoonerAFC (@Born_a_gooner) April 6, 2019

Moise Kean, 19, Juventus



Moise Kean is an explosive forward who is just breaking into Juventus’ first team. The 19-year-old has eight goals in the past ten games in all competitions that he has appeared in. In Serie A this season, he has two starts and five substitute appearances for Juventus, which was enough for him to rack up five goals already. Averaging a goal every 47 minutes in the league, he is scoring at a ridiculous rate.



With a small sample size of only about 235 minutes, Kean averages 1.7 shots per game, 0.3 key passes and 0.4 dribbles per game. He is not on the field long, but gets around 6.3 passes per game, with 84.1 percentage success rate.



Kean’s style of play is direct. He likes to receive the ball, square up to the goal, and drive towards it. He uses his scintillating speed to dribble past defenders or get on the end of through balls and is clinical when it comes to finishing. Most recently, he has the game winning goal for Juventus against rivals AC Milan.



Kean is a bright prospect for the future, showing he is capable of playing at the highest level already and with Juventus having a comfortable lead in the league, expect to see him play more minutes to finish out the season and develop more, with likely substitute appearances in the Champions League. The forward is also capable of learning from legendary forward/winger Cristiano Ronaldo while they’re both at Juventus, so the young Italian is set up for success.



Moise Kean has now scored seven goals in his last seven games for club & country.



19 years old with the world at his feet. ✊ pic.twitter.com/JIHq49po1P — Squawka Football (@Squawka) April 6, 2019

Not:

David Ospina, 30, Napoli



While he has not played due to injury in his last start back on March 17 against Udinese, his form before that game was poor and he may not have a spot in the squad upon returning with the likes of Alex Meret and Orestis Karnezis competing for the starting spot since Ospina’s collapse.



In his last game before injury, he allowed two goals in the span of six minutes, and then had a horrific collapse which caused him to be substituted out of the match and taken to the hospital. In the matches before that, he conceded three goals in the previous four matches, getting no wins, three draws and one loss.



More in an article by Lee Hurley about his injury and his road to recovery, which may have him play against Arsenal if he is fit, but they have a policy to sit out if there is any doubt when it comes to concussions.



Hopefully the 30-year-old Colombian can recover and return in better form than before. His hands before the injury seemed to turn into bricks and his long range distribution started to turn to the worse.



With his team in second place, seven points ahead of third place and 20 points behind league leaders, if they can pull out a couple results they will cement their spot in the Champion’s League for next season, but they have to be weary as it is still possible for them to drop into Europa League if they were to lose out and other teams take advantage.



He was in the squad against Arsenal as a substitute and this was the reaction before the match and at his return to the Emirates.



Nice round of applause for David Ospina on his Emirates return pic.twitter.com/JOS9Kg1Zii — James Benge (@jamesbenge) April 11, 2019

Leonardo Bonucci, 31, Juventus



While Juventus have secured the title and are still fighting to win the Champions League, Leonardo Bonucci has often been a starter at center back for the team. While he is not having a poor season by any means, and is on the title winning squad — ever since he transferred to Milan and returned he has not been the same player as before.



His 0.6 tackles per game ranks him 18th among his teammates, behind all of the other center backs besides Andrea Barzagli, who has only played 119 minutes this season. He is leading the team with 1.5 interceptions per game. He is third in clearances behind other center backs Giorgio Chiellini and Daniele Rugani, with 2.8 clearances per game, where both of his teammates have above 3.2 per game.



Bonucci’s 86.8 percent pass completion percentage ranks him 12th among all Juventus players, where he is averaging 58.1 passes per game. He is also in second for long balls played, only behind goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny at six long balls played per game compared to Szczesny’s 6.4 per game.



While these numbers are not bad, and Bonucci is having an alright season with Juventus as they top the league, let’s compare to the season before joining AC Milan. In the 2016-17 season with Juventus, Bonucci had an 87.2 percent pass completion rate on a higher 65.1 average passes per game. He averaged one tackle per game, 2.1 interceptions per game, along with 3.7 clearances. He also played 7.9 long balls that season as well.



As you can see, his numbers have dropped since the last time he was at Juventus. His attitude seems to have changed as well following an unfavored move from the Old Lady to AC Milan as well, most recently blaming his teammate Moise Kean for invoking racist chants from fans with his goal celebration. Racism has no place in the game and celebrations after scoring are common and Kean has every right to celebrate how he wants, without having to worry about fan reactions.



Moise Kean was subjected to racist chants all game.



Bonucci: “I think the blame is 50-50, because Moise shouldn’t have celebrated like that and the Curva should not have reacted that way.”



Terrible scenes and shocking response. pic.twitter.com/njYTFfzRRK — Premier League Stuff (@EPLStuff) April 3, 2019

Bonucci is still a great player, but his numbers are beginning to decline and his attitude is not what it was seen as before he left Juventus. For him and his team’s sake, he needs to pull it together and focus for the near future as next season may not be as easy in the league with the likes of AC Milan, Inter Milan and Napoli all looking to strengthen their squads and win the league.



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