AC Milan are under pressure to claim all three points against Bologna this evening as both Napoli and Inter won their games yesterday. And the Rossoneri are the clear favourites to win tonight.
Milan still have the Scudetto race in their own hands as a win would restore their three-point advantage. It’s clear, however, that yesterday’s results of Napoli and Inter were far from ideal.
Stefano Pioli has made it very clear, though, that Milan just need to focus on themselves as they are still ahead. Besides, if any of their rivals had dropped points, there would have still been pressure to win. You can read our preview here, while below are the best pre-match stats…
➤ Milan have won 11 of their last 12 Serie A games against Bologna (D1) and in the most recent six they have always scored at least two goals (18 in the period, exactly three on average per match).
➤ Milan have won each of their last five home Serie A games against Bologna, after losing 0-1 in January 2016 (Emanuele Giaccherini’s goal at minute 82).
➤ Milan have won the most matches by a one-goal margin in the ‘top five’ European leagues this season (11), including each of their last five wins in Serie A.
➤ Stefano Pioli (99) is close to his 100th match as Milan’s manager in Serie A, in the three points for a win era (since 1994-95) he is the coach with the highest average points for the Rossoneri in the competition: 2.04 per match.
➤ With a win in this match, Milan would have 69 points from 31 matches: in the three points for a win era (since 1994/95) it would be the third best result for the Rossoneri at this point of the season in Serie A, after 70 points in 2005/06 and 76 in 2003/04.
➤ Bologna have lost their last two league games and they haven’t scored in their last three matches: they could register a streak of four consecutive Serie A matches without scoring for the first time since September 2018 (five in that case, four of these with Filippo Inzaghi as a manager).
➤ Milan have scored the most goals in the first 30 minutes of play in Serie A this season (21), on the other side, Bologna have netted the fewest goals in the same period (four).
➤ Bologna have conceded the fewest goals via corners (only one) in Serie A this season; in addition, only Roma (11) and Inter (nine) have scored more such goals than Bologna (eight).
➤ Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been involved in 10 goals (seven goals and three assists) in 10 Serie A games against Bologna: since returning to Milan he has scored three goals (including one in the reverse match) and provided two assists in four matches against the Emilians.
➤ Since returning from the African Cup of Nations, Musa Barrow hasn’t scored a Serie A goal in seven appearances, although only three of those were made as a starter (one assist and 10 shots in just 320 minutes played).
