AC Milan vs Spezia

Last season’s Serie A runners-up AC Milan welcome promoted Venezia to the Stadio San Siro for a seemingly routine task for the high-flying hosts.

Milan showed character to pick themselves up from a 1-0 HT deficit and hold bitter rivals Juventus to a 1-1 away draw at the weekend, continuing their unbeaten start to this Serie A campaign in the process (W3, D1). The ‘Rossoneri’ will be favorites to return to winning ways in the domestic championship. Milan can find confidence in going unbeaten in 18 of their last 19 Serie A match-ups against promoted sides (W13, D5), as they can in a four-game undefeated league streak at home (W3, D1). Defensively robust, Stefano Pioli’s men conceded just once during that four-match sequence after registering a mere two shutouts across their previous ten in the competition at San Siro. Additionally, Milian’s last top-flight loss to Venezia dates back to November 1942, and it remains their solitary reverse across their 12 Serie A H2Hs overall (W7, D4).

On the other hand, Venezia succumbed to a 2-1 home loss to Spezia at the weekend and will take the field with low expectations. Though they’ve lost three of their four Serie A matches this season (W1), a 2-1 away victory over fellow newcomers Empoli on Matchday 3 gives them the opportunity to pursue back-to-back top-flight wins on the road for the first time since 1943. To boost their hopes of staging a massive upset at San Siro, Venezia will need to improve their lapses in concentration in the later stages of play, having recorded three of their last four league goals conceded from the 89th minute onwards. At the other end of the pitch, the ‘Lagunari’ have netted 2+ goals just twice across their previous nine league trips.