AC Milan v Lazio – Italian Serie A
20 Sep 2016, San Siro 18:45 GMT +0
AC Milan is coming into this match after a narrow win against Sampdoria on the road. The match was disappointing for “rossoneri”, but then again, they have yet to find any consistency in this or previous season. The upcoming match won’t be easy for neither of the teams as they seem equally strong in my eyes.
AC Milan is struggling in recent years and are only a shadow of a team that has dominated European football not so long ago. Now with new investors and a new manager, they are hoping to slowly rebuild their team and compete at the highest level once again. This season has brought them 6 points so far, with 2 wins against Torino (3:2) and Sampdoria (0:1) and 2 defeats against Napoli (4:2) and Udinese (0:1). With that, they are now sitting in mid table, at 10th position. The upcoming match is important for the home side, as they need as many points as they can get, if they wish to achieve at least Euro League ticket which is given to 4th and 5th placed team in Serie A. However, the match against Lazio won’t be easy and AC Milan should not take it lightly. In addition Milan will have to play without Bertolacci, Zapata, Antonelli and De Sciglio, which will cause some problems in defensive line
Lazio has had a similar start of the season than their opponents, only to have 1 more point. Their record is currently 2W-1D-1L. The only team that has managed to defeat Lazio this season was no other than Juventus. Inzaghi’s side is playing some entertaining football this season, kicking off this season with a win over Atalanta (4:3). Although they failed to win over Juventus once again, they bounced back with a draw against Chievo and a spectacular win over Pescara. We can expect Lazio to put up a decent fight tonight as they are full of confidence after walking over Pescara (3:0).
VERDICT
History is showing Milan is a better opponent in this match-up, but this won’t help us with deciding the winner here. Lazio has shown they are quite strong on the road, as they have not lost since April. I cannot see neither of the teams to keep a clean sheet in this one. Milan will have missing players in the defensive line, whereas Lazio has not convinced me enough to say they will keep a clean sheet. With that in mind BTTS is a good bet for this fixture.
Prediction: BTTS
Odds: 1.75 Bet365
