AC Milan vs AS Roma
Serie A is back with a bang folks! There’s a full round of fixtures on Thursday 6th January and we have a peach in store at the San Siro Stadium where AC Milan host Roma.
With the winter break over, these two heavyweights will be keen to make a fast start to 2022. The hosts come into the game with just one win in three, a sequence which has seen them fall four points adrift of the top, while Roma will be keen to maintain some recently found momentum.
Elsewhere, Juventus will host Napoli in Turin and so there will be points dropped by the teams around these two who are currently in second and sixth.
Milan will hope to put some distance between themselves and the other chasers while closing the gap on Inter, while Roma wants to launch an assault on the top four.
They headed into the winter break with a 4-2 win away to Empoli, but they have lost their last two games at home to Napoli and Liverpool while Roma drew 1-1 at home to Sampdoria just before the break.
2022 is going to be a huge year for football and Serie A promises plenty of highlights starting in Milan on Thursday.
Talking Points
Milan must keep in touch with city rivals
Having stormed away at the top of the league alongside Napoli, I Rossoneri were firstly pegged back by Inter Milan and then overtaken by last season’s Scudetto winners. The latest Serie A 2022 betting odds clearly favour Inter and Milan head coach Stefano Pioli must mobilise his team to make a quick start in 2022.
At 40 years of age, seven-goal Zlatan Ibrahimovic is carrying the attack which is a great feat, but how long can the magnificent Swede carry on? The players alongside him need to continually up their game to keep I Rossoneri’s title challenge alive and in fairness there are some promising signs.
Young striker Brahim Diaz, with three goals and three assists, is improving rapidly while Alexis Saelemaekers has made an impact from the bench with his fast-running and high pressing. There is more good news in the return to fitness of Croatian wide man Ante Rebic and that can only help the second top scorers in the league.
Powerful midfielder Franck Kessie has been gathering some form by scoring five goals, but he’s away at the African Cup of Nations with the Ivory Coast and influential centre-back Simon Kjaer remains sidelined.
Will Roma find consistency in 2022?
The winter break didn’t come at a great time for Roma as Jose Mourinho’s side was hitting a run of form with three wins and a draw. They currently sit 10 points behind Milan, but a win on Thursday would pull them closer to the top four action and that is Mourinho’s aim.
Striker Tammy Abraham was involved in a car accident last week but is hopeful of making a start alongside 25-year-old midfield star Lorenzo Pellegrini, who is thriving in a more advanced role- scoring five goals and making four assists.
Defence remains an issue for Roma as they continue to be without star wing-back Leonardo Spinazzola and they may need to score more than once to get a result in Milan. But the last time Roma played away, they plundered a 4-1 victory over high-flying Atalanta in Bergamo.
It’s game on.
History
The head-to-head results between Milan and Roma have been well-contested with periods of dominance for both teams. I Rossoneri currently have the edge with 24 victories to 19 while there have been 20 draws during the last 63 meetings.
The last time the two teams met in October at the Stadio Olimpico, Milan ran out 2-1 winners as Ibrahimovic wrote some more Serie A 2021 news headlines by scoring his 400th league goal as I Rossoneri became the fourth Serie A club in history to win 10 of its first 11 league games.
Last season’s clash at the San Siro was a goalfest with shared spoils as the two teams hammered out a 3-3 draw.
Roma have failed to win on their last three visits to the San Siro, but their away form during this campaign doesn’t suggest another draw as they have won four and lost five of their nine matches on the road.
In terms of form over the last six games there is nothing to choose as both teams have won three, drawn one, and lost two.
Betting Tip
 |
 | AC Milan vs AS Roma | AS Roma Asian Handicap + 0.50 @ 1.95 |
| January 07, 01:30 (GMT+8) |
At SBOTOP odds of 1.92 to win, the Rossoneri are favourites to make it a Happy New Year for their fans but the Roma faithful can back their boys at 3.59 while the neutrals have a draw at 3.52. This is a tough match to call but, against a team missing their best defender, I can see Roma getting their first away draw of the campaign or better.
A SHORT EXPLANATION ON HOW OUR (⭐) BETS ARE WORTH:
⭐⭐⭐= €20 (HIGHLY CONFIDENT)
⭐⭐= €10 (CONFIDENT))
⭐= €5 (SOMEWHAT CONFIDENT)
Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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