La Dea dominated from the first whistle, and Giacomo Raspadori stung the palms of Emil Audero with an early effort, before Nikola Krstovic almost nodded home from the resulting corner.
Only two goalkeepers in SA had made more saves pre-round than Cremonese’s Audero this season (80), but he should have done better for the opening goal, as Krstovic swivelled and volleyed through the Indonesian’s legs after 13 minutes to move top of Atalanta’s goalscoring charts for the campaign (G7).
The hosts almost doubled the lead seven minutes later when Lazar Samardzic – who earned a last-minute promotion to the starting lineup when Charles De Ketelaere dropped out – crashed a shot against the crossbar following a rapid counter-attack.
Atalanta’s second goal duly arrived after 25 minutes, and it came from a less predictable source, as right wing-back Davide Zappacosta drilled a low shot into the far corner from a tight angle to score for the first time since March last year.
While the hosts threatened throughout, Cremonese’s attacking troubles continued as they registered just two shots in the first half, neither of which troubled Marco Carnesecchi.
Atalanta smelt blood as they returned for the second half and Nicola Zalewski flashed a fierce effort just wide, although they were almost undone when Morten Thorsby – making his Cremonese debut after signing from Genoa last week – sent a looping header wide.
La Cremo enjoyed their best spell of the game without ever seriously threatening the Atalanta defence, before Samardzic side-footed wide from 12 yards out at the other end.
Raspadori could have scored the best goal of the night when he fired over 14 minutes from time following a flowing move, before Milan Duric almost headed in a late consolation in the closing stages, only to be denied by Carnesecchi.
Thorsby was able to snatch a debut goal as he slid home deep in stoppage time, which prevented Cremonese from setting an unwanted club record of failing to score in five successive top-flight games for the first time in their history.
Atalanta held on for a deserved win, though, to move just two points shy of sixth-place Como. Meanwhile, 16th-place Cremonese’s winless run now stands at 10 matches (D3, L7), with their gap to the relegation zone just five points.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Nikola Krstovic (Atalanta)
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