Mired in mediocrity: Roma v Milan
Roma host struggling Milan on Sunday in Serie A. Neither of these giants of Italian football have been able to start in the way they’d have liked. Will the game at the Olimpico prove a turning point for one of them? Have a read of our preview here:
The stats don’t lie
When you have the illustrious history of AC Milan there will always be an expectation level amongst the fans but saying they have underwhelmed this far is understatement of the year.
This is a side that have certainly got enough talent to challenge near the top of the table but at the time of writing, they sit a dismal 12th with just ten points from their opening eight matches.
With only three wins to their name, their start was summed up brilliantly in the last game against Lecce. Leading 2-1 heading into the second minute of stoppage time the Rossoneri threw away the points by allowing Marco Calderoni the space to drive home an impressive equaliser.
New manager Stefano Pioli’s era continued in the same vein as Marco Giampaolo’s heaping more frustration of the Milan faithful.
The numbers reveal a worrying trend with the San Siro outfit sitting tenth on shots per game with 14.5, they also have only eight goals in so far this season – only five sides have a worst attacking output than that whilst they are 17th in the table based on shot on target per game.
It really has been a car crash start for the club and Pioli will have his work cut out to turn things around against Roma.
Giallorossi lacking a cutting edge
Roma have only lost once so far this season but it is the four draws in the opening eight rounds that have cut them adrift of those above them.
They sit comfortably in 6th but will know that it could have been so much better had they managed to get a win against Genoa, Cagliari, Lazio or Sampdoria all of whom they could only draw against.
The last four games has seen Roma only score twice and their underlying numbers suggest they should be doing better. It is unlikely that they will find Milan a scary opponent given the way the Rossoneri have started the season, but it will be hard for Paulo Fonseca’s side to find a way to win with their current goalscoring problems.
Roma v AC Milan betting tip
With neither side willing to convince the world they are anything more than mediocre this season, backing this one to finish with under 2.5 goals at odds of 23/20 is well worth a punt.
Post bet chat James's Tips:
Roma bagged the 2-1 win here and although the game was tight, this bet failed to land