AC Milan - Juventus predictions and free betting tips [22/10/2023]

On Sunday the 22nd of October, AC Milan will host Juventus as part of the 9th tour of the Italian Serie A. The Rossoneri took the international break at the top after eking out a victory over Genoa, while Juve is trailing them by four points and dispatched of Torino in the Derby two weeks back.

Predicted Line-ups

Milan: Mirante; Calabria, Tomori, Thiaw, Florenzi; Musah, Adli, Reijnders; Pulisic, Giroud, Leao.
Juventus: Szczesny; Gatti, Bremer, Rugani; Weah, McKennie, Locatelli, Rabiot, Kostic; Kean, Milik.

Stadium

The clash will be held in Milan at the San Siro stadium.

AC Milan

The 2022 Italian champions didn't fare quite as well last season, being forced to settle for 4th place. The Lombards retained their Champions League seat largely due to points deductions Juventus incurred for financial irregularities. This campaign, the Rossoneri aim to improve and vie for the Scudetto again. Their leading position in the league table and 7 victories in the 8 initial tours prove they're living up to their fans' expectations. Their solitary defeat came against Inter in early September (5:1). Since then, Milan had victories against Verona (1:0), Cagliari (1:3), Lazio (2:0), and Genoa (0:1). After a barren 87 minutes, Milan took the lead via Christian Pulisic's effort, which resulted in both team's goalkeepers being sent off - Olivier Giroud subbed for Mike Maignan, even managing to pull off a save. 

In the Champions League, Stefano Pioli's charges began with two stalemates - against Newcastle (0:0) and Borussia Dortmund (0:0). As mentioned earlier, the main goalkeeper Maignan will be serving a ban after his sending off in the last tour. It's the same story with the captain Theo Hernandez, who has accumulated too many yellow cards. Substitute goalkeeper Sportiello, vital midfielders Loftus-Cheek and Krunic, winger Chukwueze, French centre-backs Kalulu and Caldara, are all in the infirmary. Algerian defensive midfielder Bennacer, returned to training after an extended injury, needs time to regain his former fitness. As a result, the squad has thinned significantly; we'll be seeing Pulisic (4 goals and 1 assist), Leao (3 goals and 3 assists), and Giroud (4 goals and 3 assists) in the starting line-up in Sunday's game. The San Siro's new darling Adli will assume the centre-midfield role along with Musah and Reinders.

Juventus

After a tumultuous season, featuring a finishing 7th place in Serie A following a 10-point penalty, Juventus is nothing short of ambitious this season, especially now that they've been disqualified from participating in the European campaigns. The Old Lady is already showing great results, holding the 3rd place in the table and trailing its upcoming rivals by 4 points. Juve has lost just once to Sassuolo (4:2) in the first 8 tours, with 5 victories and 2 draws. After eking out a draw against Atalanta (0:0), they secured a derby victory over Torino (2:0) before the international break, with Federico Gatti and Arkadiusz Milik putting their names on the scoresheet. Masi Allegri's squad has managed to keep a clean sheet in each of their last three matches, their tally totting up to eight clean sheets in their last 13 league matches dating back to last season.

Interestingly, the visitors have yet to concede a goal from open play in the current campaign. Veterans De Sciglio and Alex Sandro remain injured and Daniilo is in the same boat. Midfielders Pogba and Fagioli are serving suspensions for doping and for involvement in illegal betting respectively. Allegri might give promising Miretti a chance after his recovery from a muscle injury; he'll join midfield stalwarts Locatelli and Rabiot. Chiesa, with 4 goals and 1 assist in the Serie A, is now fit but might be deployed only in the second half. The attacking line consists of Milik (2 goals and 1 assist) and Vlahovic (4 goals and 1 assist) who also just returned from injury.

Head to Head

Milan has emerged winners four times out of the last ten head-to-head matches with Juventus, with four draws and two defeats. Last season, the Rossoneri came out on top on both occasions: 2:0 and 0:1.

Match Prediction: AC Milan vs Juventus

With several key players serving suspensions, Milan will face a challenging struggle this evening. The Rossoneri will have one eye on the upcoming Champions League clash with PSG next week, whereas the visitors can wholly concentrate on the domestic championship. The bookies underestimate the Turin club; I'm backing them not to lose.

Total Prediction

One goal could decide this tense match: in eight out of the last 11 fixtures between these teams at the San Siro, at least one of them failed to score.

Corner Prediction

Both teams put considerable emphasis on set-pieces when building attacks, with several tall players at their disposal. I'm backing the total corners to be over 9.5.

Yellow Card Prediction

Given the game's magnitude and the historical rivalry, Milan versus Juventus encounters have always involved heated emotions both on the pitch and in the stands. I'm confidently backing the total yellow cards to be over 4.5.

Score Prediction

I'm placing my bet on an exact score of 0:1 in favour of Juventus.