Serie A: Fiorentina Looking to Ruin AC Milan’s Scudetto Quest

Fiorentina vs AC Milan

Joint-leaders AC Milan are set to continue their Serie A championship charge as they’ll visit Tuscany on Saturday to take on Fiorentina.

I Rossoneri are level with Napoli at 32 points each and this is an opportunity for them to claim the top spot at the table especially with I Partenopei having a harder game vs. third-placed Inter Milan.

Fiorentina, meanwhile, are vying for an European qualification and they’re at seventh place with 18 points. Vincenzo Italiano’s side has been quite inconsistent lately as they’ve won and lost half of their total fixtures.

Attacking stars from young to old are going to guarantee goals this weekend as the likes of Dusan Vlahovic, Olivier Giroud, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic are going to be present.

With Fiorentina and AC Milan playing an enterprising style of football, fans should expect a ton of Serie A 2021 highlights this weekend.

Read on below as SBOTOP examines these two Italian top-flight clubs here in this match preview.

Talking Points

Dusan Vlahovic can’t do it all for Fiorentina

Star striker Dusan Vlahovic is coming off of a superb international break as he helped Serbia in securing their berth to the World Cup finals next year. Portugal were the favourites to come out on top of their group. However, Aleksandar Mitrovic’s late heroics have sealed their fate during their pivotal final group stage match last Monday.

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With him back in Tuscany, Vlahovic is going to be tasked to do something similar for La Viola – who are aching for a return to Europe since the 2016/17 season.

The 21-year-old, after all, had previously recorded a hat-trick in their 3-0 demolition over Spezia in Fiorentina’s last home game which was followed by a goal against Cagliari a week prior.

Fiorentina did suffer 1-0 losses to Lazio and Juventus, but the good news is that they won’t be facing top eight clubs anytime soon after this one versus AC Milan.

With opposing defences keying in on slowing down Dusan Vlahovic, Ricardo Saponara and Nicolas Gonzalez would have to increase their scoring outputs moving forward.Summer acquisition Nicolas Gonzalez has yet to get it going for La Viola. He unfortunately had a COVID-19 infection two weeks ago but he should be ready to go this weekend.

AC Milan’s opportunity to seize control

Following their intense derby draw against Inter Milan, the Rossoneri have their eyes set on moving on top of the Serie A food chain. Like Inter, they are undefeated in their first 12 games and they’re keen on extending their flawless run.

But Stefano Pioli will face selection headaches for this contest as he’ll continue to miss the services of several key players.

Goalkeeper Mike Maignan and skipper Davide Calabria are both on the mend as they’re dealing with knocks, so Ciprian Tatarusanu and Pierre Kalulu will get an opportunity to start.

AC Milan aim to gather good results in their Serie A match against Fiorentina — AC Milan’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic reacts during their recent Milan derby in San Siro, Italy

Alexis Saelemakers and Ante Rebic are going to contend for spots up front and Pioli would have to choose who will join them between the experienced veterans in Olivier Giroud and Zlatan Ibrahimovic or younger alternatives in Rafael Leao and Brahim Diaz.

Fikayo Tomori and Simon Kjaer should make up their centre-half defence while Franck Kessie and Sandro Tonali will man the middle for AC Milan.

History

AC Milan hold the significant advantage in their recent head-to-heads against Fiorentina as they’ve only lost two of their last Serie A games against them (W6, D3).

Fiorentina’s last home victory over AC Milan dates back to August 2015 when Josip Ilicic and Marcos Alonso scored once goal apiece en route to a 2-0 final score.

Should I Rossoneri win here, they will become the second team in Serie A history to win 16 away games in a single calendar year. Napoli are the last ones who did it with 18 back in 2017.

Goals have been a common theme in this matchup. During their last meeting in March, AC Milan edged out Fiorentina in a five-goal thriller.

Betting Tip

	Fiorentina vs AC Milan	AC Milan Asian Handicap -0.00 @ 1.65
	November 21, 3:45 (GMT+8)

The Serie A 2021 odds expect a tight affair at Tuscany this Saturday. AC Milan are the favoured side but their margin for error is small. I Rossoneri have the slight edge at 2.22 to win, while Fiorentina are priced at 3.05 and a draw is at 3.45 in the 1X2 market.

Fiorentina have been superb at home with a 6-0 aggregate scoreline in their last two victories against Cagliari and Spezia.

However, it’s unlikely that they’ll have the same outcome since AC Milan are on a different calibre than Cagliari and Spezia and we expect the visitors to come away with the three points, albeit via a slim margin.