After what has been a successful year, Milan will be looking to finish on a high note this evening, taking on Lazio as San Siro. To preserve their lead at the top, they will most likely need all three points from the game.
Stefano Pioli’s men are struggling with several key injuries as the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Simon Kjaer, Ismael Bennacer and Matteo Gabbia will miss out. However, these players have shown that they can overcome difficulties.
Therefore, the game will be very interesting as both sides will be keen to grab the win, for different reasons. You can read our match preview here, while below are the best pre-match stats courtesy of Opta…
➤ Lazio have lost 66 matches against AC Milan in Serie A (W29 D59), only against Juventus (82) have the Biancocelesti suffered more defeats in the Italian top flight. On the other hand, AC Milan have drawn more Serie A games against Lazio (59) than against any other side.
➤ Milan have scored in their last 16 league games against Lazio, only against Cagliari are the Rossoneri on a longer such streak (21), among current Serie A teams.
➤ Milan are unbeaten in 29 of their last 30 home games against Lazio in Serie A (W18 D11), their only defeat in this period was in their most recent meeting at San Siro (November 2019) – the Biancocelesti have never won two away matches in a row against the Rossoneri in the Italian top flight.
➤ Milan have earned nine wins and four draws in their first 13 Serie A games this season: no unbeaten side in the opening 13 games of a season have ever finished the campaign outside the top four positions in the history of Serie A (since 1929/30).
➤ Lazio have picked up 10 points in their last four Serie A away games (3W D1): since the start of November only AC Milan (2.6) have averaged more points than the Biancocelesti (2.5) away from home in the Italian top flight.
➤ Milan have scored 2+ goals in each of their last 15 Serie A games and could become only the second team in the history of the top five European leagues to enjoy 16 consecutive games with more than one goal scored in a single calendar year (after 18 for Barcelona in 1948).
➤ Milan have scored the most goals from set pieces in Serie A this season (10), whilst they’ve also conceded the highest percentage of their goals from such situations in 2020/21 (57%, eight out of 14).
➤ Milan striker Rafael Leão is the youngest player in the top five European leagues to have scored at least three goals in each of the last three seasons, and the only one born after 1/1/1999.
➤ Since 2017/18 – the season he joined the Rossoneri – AC Milan have only played eight Serie A matches without Frank Kessiè: two wins, two draws and four defeats (25%-win rate without the Ivorian player, whilst their win percentage is 52.5% with him on the pitch).
➤ Lazio’s Ciro Immobile has scored 12 goals in 13 appearances in all competitions since the start of October: only Robert Lewandowski (19), Erling Haaland (14), Mohamed Salah and Cristiano Ronaldo (13 each) have netted more among the top five European leagues.
Kick-off is scheduled for 20:45 this evening and as Inter will face Hellas Verona at 18:30, the Rossoneri will know the conditions before stepping onto the pitch.
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