AC Milan vs Spezia

AC Milan will be looking to avoid losing back-to-back Serie A games for the first time since November 2021 when they take on bottom-half underachievers Spezia at the Stadio San Siro.

Milan looked unfazed by last weekend’s morale-damaging 2-1 Serie A defeat at Torino as they thumped RB Salzburg 4-0 in midweek Champions League action to reach the competition’s knockouts for the first time since 2013/14. After being knocked down from a four-game winning league streak, ‘I Rossoneri’ have to play catch-up on table-topping Napoli, with six points separating the sides ahead of this round. Beating Spezia, a side that triumphed 2-1 on their most recent top-flight visit to San Siro, is a must for Stefano Pioli’s men. Odds firmly back Milan for success, though, especially considering they’ve kept a league joint-high nine home clean sheets in Serie A in 2022. On top of that, the hosts have won five of their six home league outings this season (L1), netting at least twice in each victory.

In the meantime, visiting Spezia suffered a stoppage-time heartbreak against Fiorentina last weekend (1-2), taking their abysmal winless Serie A run to five matches (D1, L4). It’ll take something utterly special from the Ligurian outfit to get back to winning ways in Lombardia, considering Luca Gotti’s men have lost all six away league games this season without scoring! Another identical result would see them become only the fifth side in Serie A history to lose seven consecutive away fixtures ‘to nil.’ But after drawing a blank in 50% of their top-flight outings in 2022/23 (6/12) and averaging just 0.84 goals per match, they’ll have to play out of their skins to stand a chance against Milan. Spezia’s cagey entries have seen them trail for the most minutes in Serie A away matches this season (315)!