Lazio vs AC Milan: Preview and Prediction
The race for the Serie A crown is on as the table-toppers AC Milan will resume their league title hunt after the cup exit earlier this week. As they will be touring Stadio Olimpico to face the raging Lazio side in the 2021-22 Serie A matchday 34 on Monday.
The battle between the Rossoneri and other competitors for the Scudetto is getting intense. The arch-rivals Inter Milan are just two points behind them while having played a game less than the Red and Blacks. After so many great names failed to retrieve the legacy of the Milan-based club, Stefan Pioli is on the verge of restoring it.
Despite finishing the previous two seasons in Top-6 comfortably, the Capital based club is struggling to do so. They’re currently standing in the seventh position tied on 56 match-points with AS Roma but also have a disadvantage of playing one game more than the city rivals. It is the first season of Maurizio Sarri’s tenure at the club and the former Chelsea head coach is not having a great debut run with Biancocelesti.
Current Form
The 2019-20 European Golden Boot winner is topping the 2021-22 Italian goal-scoring charts
Before turning up for this fixture, Lazio had a frustrating draw with the last-placed Genoa side on their turf. They dropped two crucial points to the bottom-placed club in Serie A standings which damaged their chances of a Top-6 finish. The Sky Blues roster must be low on confidence and needs a boost ahead of such an important fixture.
On the other hand, Rossoneri’s grip on the Scudetto is losing as they have dropped points in two games since resuming the campaign after the International break. While their challenge for the Coppa Italia trophy was also terminated by Inter Milan just a couple of days ago. Hence it will be very interesting to see whether the manager Stefan Pioli manages to divert this rage into the title hunt or not.
Head to Head Record
If we take the head-to-head record of the last 65 meetings between these two, AC Milan has been the dominant force in this rivalry with 28 victories. The two-time Italian top-flight champions could register only 11 wins over their counterparts while 26 fixtures remained resultless.
The most recent chapter of this rivalry was staged in the quarter-final stages of the 2021-22 Coppa Italia competition. Where Milan squashed the Sky Blues on a 4-0 scoreline to make their way into the semi-finals where they eventually ended up on the losing side.
Squad Overview
The Real Madrid loanee is exhilarated to be back in the Milan lineup
Injuries have hit a major blow to the Lazio side as the list of unavailable players for this clash has lengthened. Patric and Pedro are the latest additions who have been ruled out due to muscle injuries. While the 27-year-old hot transfer-market commodity is also doubtful for the encounter as he bagged an assist in his previous game and his abscess will haunt them big if he misses out.
Milan lacked the attacking prowess against Inter whose defensive unit dominated them thoroughly. Hence it may force Pioli to make some attacking changes and also enable the chances of Brahim Diaz’s possible return to the starting eleven.
Predicted Starting XIs
Lazio (4-3-3): Thomas Strakosha; Manuel Lazzari, Luis Felipe, Francesco Acerbi, Adam Marusic; Sergej Milinkovic-Savic; Lucas Leiva, Luis Alberto; Felipe Anderson, Ciro Immobile, Mattia Zaccagni
AC Milan (4-2-3-1): Mike Maignan; Davide Calabria, Fikayo Tomori, Pierre Kalulu, Theo Hernandez; Franck Kessie, Sandro Tonali; Alexis Saelemaekers, Brahim Diaz, Rafael Leão; Oliver Giroud
Prediction
The fixture promises a nail-biting thriller as both combatants are standing on equal chances to emerge victorious from this encounter. Despite the mixed form of the Lazio side, it’s going to be a very tough task for the counterparts to breach their fortress.