Serie A: AC Milan Can Return to the Title Mix in Visit to Lecce

Lecce vs AC Milan

AC Milan’s form in Serie A has dropped off in recent weeks because they’ve been winless in their last three league matches. They can consider themselves lucky that they’re not out of the top four in spite of this, so they shouldn’t take it for granted.

With Week 11 standouts Inter Milan and Juventus slowly breaking away from the pack, it’s imperative that AC Milan beat Lecce on the road on Saturday.

But despite their lacklustre league form, Stefano Pioli’s men come into this match with high confidence since they’re coming off a big 2-1 win against PSG to keep their Champions League hopes alive.

On the other hand, Lecce have yet to win a single game across all competitions since September.

Learn more about these two teams here in today’s SBOTOP preview.

Talking Points

Leao is so crucial for AC Milan

After weeks of struggling to find form, Rafael Leao couldn’t have picked a better time to kick things up a notch, as the Portuguese striker was just named Man of the Match in their Champions League group stage victory against PSG.

Last night was a chance for the Rossoneri to redeem themselves after suffering a 3-0 beatdown at the hands of the Parisiens in the reverse fixture, and boy did Leao go off.

Leao was all over the place in a good way, being a constant threat going forward, and he even helped on the defencive end at crucial moments of the match.

When Milan Skriniar gave PSG a 1-0 lead, Leao scored the equaliser with a spectacular acrobatic finish three minutes later. AC Milan went ahead for good when Leao’s strike partner, Olivier Giroud, headed the ball in following a nifty cross by Theo Hernandez five minutes after halftime.

Prior to the game against PSG, Leao wasn’t able to find the back of the net in nine consecutive matches across all competitions, so it’s not a coincidence that AC Milan had a mixed bag of Serie A 2023 results during that stretch.

Now that he’s back on the scoresheet, the hope for I Rossoneri is that there will be more goals to come from Leao. As of this writing, the 24-year-old is the team’s second-leading scorer with four goals and three assists.

Krstovic needs to regain his bearings at Lecce

Another young striker that needs to find his form is Nikola Krstovic, who was once a surprise package in the early stages of the 2023-24 campaign.

He was the main reason why Lecce were once at the top of the Serie A standings five weeks in, which is a marked improvement from their 16^th place finish last term.

However, after winning 11 points from their opening five league matches (W3, D2), Lecce have picked up just two points across their last six Serie A games. And in their last three games, Krstovic hasn’t scored.

Krstovic has to re-establish himself, just like Rafael Leao, because, to be honest, he is Lecce’s lone threat in the final third.

History

AC Milan have yet to lose a single game against Lecce in Serie A since a 1-0 result in April 2006. In 22 of their last 23 meetings, the Rossoneri have recorded 12 wins and 10 losses.

However, Lecce are undefeated in nine of their last 12 Serie A home games against AC Milan (W1, D8), and they’ve scored in 10 of those games.

The Rossoneri have lost two of their last three league games (D1), which is as many as in their previous 19 games (W13, D4).

If they somehow lose again this weekend, AC Milan will have suffered three straight league losses for the first time since February this year, when they were beaten by Lazio, Sassuolo, and Inter Milan.

Betting Tip

In a game between two struggling teams as of this writing, the Serie A 2023 odds favour the visitors to win at the Stadio Comunale Via del Mare this Saturday.

AC Milan are priced at 1.74 to win, whereas Lecce are at 4.30 odds, and a draw is at 3.40 in the 1X2 market. The Rossoneri are certainly not going to settle for anything less than a win, but they should be able to get it against the hosts, no problem.

There should be enough goals to go around in this contest. Bets like Over 2.50 at 2.19 and Total Goal 2-3 at 1.90 are safe, while you can also go for Total Goal 4-6 at 4.30 if you’re swinging for the fences.

 

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