Milan Can Close in On Champions League Spot

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The big match in Serie A this weekend sees AC Milan welcome Napoli to the San Siro.  With both teams currently sitting inside the top five in the league, this is a huge match and one which could have a huge bearing on both the title race and who finishes in the crucial top three positions and qualifies for the Champions League next season.

As things stand, Milan are in fifth place in Serie A, 4 points off Napoli in third but with a game in hand, so a win for Milan in this one, will see them in contention for Champions League qualification.

After a difficult start to the season, which saw Milan lose two of their first three Serie A games, Vincenzo Montella has got the team producing their best football for some time.  Milan have lost only two of their last sixteen Serie A games, both of which were away from home in Genoa and Rome.  At the San Siro, Montella’s team have lost one of their ten league games and picked up some very good wins.  The highlights of Milan’s season include a 1-0 win over Juventus, 2-0 win over Lazio and 3-2 win over Torino.  Milan are unbeaten in their last eight home Serie A games and the win over Juventus shows they have what it takes to defeat a team of Napoli’s quality.

As for the visitors, Napoli have been in fantastic form and are undefeated in their last nine Serie A games.  Napoli have been finding the back of the net with ease, scoring 21 goals in their last six league games, at an average of 3.5 goals per game and Milan are going to find it tough to stop them scoring in San Siro.

Away from home in the league, Napoli have lost one of their last five games, which came at league leaders Juventus.  Maurizio Sarri’s team have also dropped points at Pescara, Genoa, Atalanta and Fiorentina this season.  The main issue for Napoli on the road has been their inability to keep clean sheets.  They have one in their last five away league games and this will give Milan confidence they can score at least once in the game on Saturday night.  This is the first of some tough remaining away Serie A fixtures for Napoli this season and Sarri will be keen to get maximum points and put some distance between themselves and Milan in the table.

Milan will be without the suspended Alessio Romagnoli and the injured duo of Manuel Locatelli and Mattia de Sciglio, which will test their thin squad.  However, Napoli are without both Kalidou Koulibaly and Faouzi Ghoulam, who are at the Africa Cup of Nations.  With that in mind, this could be a very entertaining match, with plenty of goalmouth action, leading to a match with over 2.5 goals.  Napoli come in as slight favourites but have dropped points away from home this season, while Milan have produced some great performances at home against strong teams.  Milan to win and both teams to score offers good value for this game.