Atalanta move into Serie A's top three with hard-fought victory over Monza
Mateo Retegui had an early chance saved for the hosts, who had dished out their biggest win since last year by hammering Hellas Verona 6-1 at the weekend.
They struggled to show the same kind of attacking fluency in this match though, regularly seeing moves break down around their opponents’ 18-yard box and being forced into shots from distance that were inevitably blocked.
Ademola Lookman did skew one effort high and wide from the edge of the area, but Monza, who went into the game with the joint-second-best away defensive record in the division, were largely comfortable.
Indeed, they had a chance themselves to break the deadlock as the interval approached, with Alessandro Bianco seeing a fizzing 25-yard shot awkwardly fumbled to safety by Marco Carnesecchi.
That gave Monza confidence going into the second half, and they once again tested the goalkeeper shortly after the restart through Pedro Pereira, who had a powerful low drive palmed away.
Samuele Vignato then had the ball in the back of the net when his cross sailed all the way in, only for the strike to be disallowed for a push on the defender by Milan Duric.
That finally woke up La Dea, who took the lead through Lazar Samardzic with 20 minutes remaining, as he bided his time in the penalty area before whipping a lethal left-footed strike past Stefano Turati.
That proved enough to condemn Monza to a sixth successive head-to-head defeat – although the manner of it could have been heavier, as Turati was on hand to claw away Sead Kolasinac’s late attempt to seal the points after the defender found himself through on goal.
Atalanta were in no mood to shut up shop and doubled their lead with mere minutes left when Davide Zappacosta cut inside on his right foot and unleashed a wonderful 25-yard strike that whipped into the far corner.
Despite the comfortable-looking scoreline, La Dea will still be breathing a sigh of relief tonight, after a performance that was some way off their Europa League-winning best, but still sufficient to ensure a fourth clean sheet in six outings.
As for Monza, their three-game unbeaten run is over, and they remain in the Serie A relegation zone.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Marten de Roon (Atalanta)