The UEFA Europa League continues this week with a full round of fixtures to be played on Thursday night.
One of the biggest games of the evening takes place at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy in Group H as Lille welcome AC Milan to France. The hosts begin the game as the group leaders on 7 points while the visitors are in second place on 6 points.
Lille come into the match having picked up maximum points in Ligue 1 thanks to a comfortable 4-0 home win over Lorient. Lille opened the scoring before half time and found themselves 3-0 up after 57 minutes before adding a fourth with just one minute remaining on the clock. It was an important victory for Lille who lost their previous game at Brest and it moved them within 2 points of Paris Saint-Germain at the top of the table.
Lille have proven extremely difficult to beat this season and they have lost only one of their last 14 matches in all competitions. In the Europa League, Lille have picked up two victories and one draw this season, with the wins coming at Sparta Prague and AC Milan, both of which were convincing. The only disappointment came in the 2-2 draw at home against Celtic, despite the fact they came from 2-0 down to take a point.
Trends show Lille have made improvements in the Europa League this season but have still managed just 2 wins in their last 13 matches in the competition. They have kept just one clean sheet in their last 6 home Europa League games.
AC Milan returned to action following the international break with a good 3-1 win at Napoli. Zlatan Ibrahimović stole the show once again with 2 goals but was forced off injured before the end of the match. That win means AC Milan are undefeated in 13 of their 14 games in all competitions this season and currently top Serie A.
AC Milan are undefeated in all 8 of their away fixtures this season and have won each of their last 4 on the road. One of those 4 games was away against Celtic in the Europa League and AC Milan came away with a 3-1 win.
Trends show AC Milan have been winning at both half time and full time in 4 of their last 6 matches in the Europa League. They have also scored 2 or more goals in 5 of their last 6 Europa League games.
Team news and Lille are hoping Portuguese midfielder Renato Sanches will be available following injury. Zeki Celik is set to miss out due to an ankle problem.
AC Milan travel without Rafael Leão who has a thigh injury. Striker Zlatan Ibrahimović is a doubt having gone off against Napoli with a muscle injury.
This has the makings of being a close game and despite both teams finding the back of the net it could end level. That means we could see a 1-1 draw, which would make things interesting for the group in the two remaining rounds of fixtures.
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