Serie A: When Two Giants Collide…

AC Milan vs Juventus

Try and split these two if you can!

Juventus travel to San Siro on Sunday to take on AC Milan in the Serie A clash of the weekend; there’s a whole lot at stake and it could easily be a pivotal moment in the season.

I Rossoneri are currently sitting in second place in the league table, two points behind leaders Inter Milan, while the Old Lady is in fifth and breathing down the necks of the top four. After a poor first half of the campaign Juve are starting to gather momentum under the returned Max Allegri and are still not out of the title race though they have nine points to make up.

Win this game and the Turin giants might start to believe that the Scudetto could be theirs again, but if Milan take the points then they could take top spot, though leaders Inter are unlikely to slip up at home to Venezia.

Here at SBOTOP we’re struggling to slide a wafer between these two with Milan currently at odds of 2.56 to win, and Juventus and 2.55!

Let’s take a closer look at the two teams and the latest Serie A 2022 updates and see if we can’t get a little closer…   

Talking Points

Angry Milan must keep their cool    

I Rossoneri are at a price of 10.00 to win the Scudetto, and that looks about right after they and Napoli squandered a handy lead they built up over the opening 12 games. But last week Milan felt, quite rightly, cheated in a 2-1 defeat at home to Spezia. With the scores level in injury time and Milan pushing for a winner, Junior Messias curled a beauty into the corner of the net but the referee blew his whistle two seconds earlier instead of playing an obvious advantage. 

Head coach Stefano Pioli was furious, and he couldn’t believe his eyes when Emmanuel Gyasi snatched all three points for the visitors in the 96^th minute. The Referees’ Association apologised, but that won’t bring the three points back and now Milan must keep their cool when they face a much fiercer opponent. In their previous match I Rossoneri briefly returned to the top of the table after a thumping 3-0 victory over Venezia and that’s the type of form they want to return to.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is a man for the big game and he’d love to add to his eight league goals against the Old Lady while the in-form Rafael Leao, who has scored six goals and made four assists, will do the old stager’s running!

Milan are without powerful midfielder Franck Kessie who is at the African Cup of Nations and long term injury Simon Kjaer.   

Allegri makes Juventus tick

The Serie A 2022 betting odds are right behind Inter Milan to retain the Scudetto, at a short price of 1.26, but I Bianconeri are creeping in and are now priced at 21.00. Take another look if they plunder all three points on Sunday. Since they returned after the Christmas break Juventus have drawn with Napoli and beaten Roma and Udinese to advance on the top four, and they come into this game on the back of an impressive 4-1 Coppa Italia win over Sampdoria.

Since returning to the club, following the sacking of Andrea Pirlo, Max Allegri has stamped his authority on Juventus again. As well as gradually climbing the league table the Old Lady was impressive in Champions League qualifying and have a very winnable Round of 16 tie against La Liga side Villarreal.  Allegri is staying composed and that will reflect on his team: “The important thing is to approach the game well, to express ourselves, to play a good game and win.” He said. We’re behind in the league and the top four are moving very fast. We have to keep winning, step by step, then we’ll see.”

Indeed we will.

Allegri’s big players are coming into form. Paulo Dybala, with seven goals, and Alvaro Morata with five are on a hot streak, both were both on target in the Coppa victory over Sampdoria and Dybala has made it three in the last five games.

Centre back Leo Bonucci is sidelined and that means Matthijs de Ligt will line up at the back alongside Daniele Rugani, recalled from a loan at Cagliari; unless Allegri decided to bring in his old warhorse Giorgio Chiellini for the big game. 

And in support of the strikers, Federico Bernardeschi and Dejan Kulusevski are both likely to start in the absence of the injured Federico Chiesa.  

History

Juventus have had the better of the head to heads in all competitions since 1993, winning 36 to Milan’s 21 and there have been 17 draws.

Last season Juventus won at the San Siro 3-1, and when the two teams met in the fourth game of this campaign they played out a 1-1 draw in Turin as Ante Rebic scored a late equaliser after Alvaro Morata had given Juventus an early lead.    

In terms of recent form both teams have won four from the last six games, Milan losing two while I Bianconeri have lost one and drawn one.

Betting Tip

	AC Milan vs Juventus	1X2 Draw @ 3.16
	January 24, 03:45 (GMT+8)

This has all the hallmarks of a classic and I’m not going to try to split the in-form Juventus from their highly motivated hosts Milan. 

Another 1-1 draw is the lowest odds score-line at a price of 5.22, and while that would be a great result for Inter Milan it could be a case of ‘what might have been’ for AC and Juve. 

 

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