Serie A: Milan and Juve Duel for Much-Needed Points at San Siro

AC Milan vs Juventus

AC Milan and Juventus both have a long way to go if they are to challenge for this season’s Serie A championship.

Defending champions AC Milan are currently fifth with 17 points which is decent. However, Napoli, Atalanta, and Udinese have had better Serie A 2022 results as they’re all undefeated in eight games thus far.

Meanwhile, their visitors Juventus are at seventh with 13 points. They’re in danger of missing out on a Champions League spot next season if they don’t fix their issues soon and it seems that it’s only going to get worse before it gets better for them.

The pre-match SBOTOP betting odds predict another tight encounter between AC Milan and Juventus and football fans shouldn’t expect anything less.

Talking Points

AC Milan must be resilient

AC Milan’s title defence have taken a turn for the worse as they’re battling an injury crisis in the midst of one of their toughest stretches this season. From short-term to long-term, I Rossoneri have eight key players out and Stefano Pioli is hopeful that their injury list would ease up sooner than later.

Theo Hernandez, Junior Messias, Simon Kjaer, and Mike Maignan are all dealing with muscular injuries that would sideline them for around a week, while Alexis Saelemaekers, Davide Calabria, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and Alessandro Florenzi remain long-term absentees.

With them sidelined, youngsters Rafael Leao, Charles De Ketelaere, Sandro Tonali, and Ismael Bennacer are going to have to step it up while Olivier Giroud will serve as their reliable veteran.

I Rossoneri were just beaten by the Blues in last night’s Champions League group stage matchup as a result, and now they’re in danger to be relegated to the Europa League but there’s still time to turn things around.

Juventus are stuck with Max Allegri

Juventus are coming off a 3-1 win over Maccabi Haifa which is expected if we’re being honest since they’re the stronger side overall.

Adrien Rabiot recorded a brace while Dusan Vlahovic had one and Angel Di Maria was the one responsible for assisting both Rabiot and Vlahovic in the second half.

I Bianconeri are still lagging behind in Group H, though, and they’re going to be relegated to the Europa League since PSG and Benfica are likely to finish as the top two seeds.

Before taking on Maccabi Haifa, Juventus won 3-0 against relegation-threatened Bologna to finally end their winless run last September.

In the said month, supporters were calling for Allegri’s head due to his rigid tactics since he couldn’t find the right tactical formation and balance, but the club eventually realized that sacking him would prove to be too costly.

Those victories are small steps and they’re desperately needed so Max Allegri’s coaching job is safe for now. But with big games coming in thick and fast, Allegri will still have to hold his breath.

A date against the defending champions surely makes it more challenging. We’ll see whether they can rise up to the challenge.

History

Juventus have the edge over AC Milan in their overall head-to-heads. In their 174 meetings prior to Saturday night, I Bianconeri have won 67 times, while I Rossoneri won in 51 games along with 56 draws.

These two calcios drew both of their Serie A matches last season (1-1 and 0-0). Should it be honours even again this weekend, it’ll be the third time ever and the first time since a stretch between 1972 and 1973 that they’ve drawn at least three games in a row.

AC Milan are undefeated in four of their last five Serie A matches against Juventus (W2, D2) after losing 13 of the last 14 (W1).

Meanwhile, Juve have won six of their last nine fixtures against AC Milan at San Siro (D1, L2), and they’ve scored twice the amount of goals that they’ve conceded in the process (14 to 7).

Betting Tip

This is going to be another close match according to the Serie A 2022 odds. AC Milan were given the slight edge at 2.02, while Juventus are priced at 3.70 and a draw is installed at 3.30 in the 1×2 market.

If it weren’t for injuries, this would’ve been an easier call in favour of AC Milan, so instead we’ll focus more on the possible goal count for this match.

Their recent encounters weren’t that high-scoring as most would expect. And given the collective fatigue from both sides since they’re fresh from their respective Champions League group stage matches, we’re leaning towards recommending Under 2.50 @ 1.78.

 

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