Juventus vs. AC Milan Stadio Olimpico di Torino, Turin Italy 2:45 PM EST Sunday January 10, 2010
by Jason Green at Predictem.com
Match Odds: Juventus are the slight favorites in this match posted at 2.30 with AC Milan at 3.00 and a draw at 3.20.
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In a big match in the Italian Serie A on Sunday night 3rd place Juventus hosts 2nd place AC Milan. Juventus has 33 points and AC Milan has 34 points in the Italian domestic league, as each trail Inter Milan who have 42 points. The winner of this match will be all alone in 2nd place and will still have a chance to catch Inter for the league title.
Juventus won their last match against Parma, but before that they had lost 5 of their last 6 games. If they want a chance to catch Inter for the Scudetto they have to start winning and it all starts with this match. This season Juventus won at AC Milan and won at home against Inter Milan. Unlike AC Milan and Inter Milan Juventus is out of the Champions League, so their whole focus in on Serie A.
Milan has been playing great for a few months, as they only have one loss since September. Since AC Milan has played one less match than Juventus they can really put the northern Italian squad behind them with a win in this away match. Ronaldinho has found his game and is playing like he was when he was one of the better players in the world and they have David Beckham in the fold, who really helped them out in the end of last season.
This season Juventus has scored 32 goals and have given up 22 goals while AC Milan has scored 28 goals and have given up 19 points.
Juventus Recent Form:
1/6/2010 Parma 1 Juventus 2 (Serie A)
12/20/2009 Juventus 1 Catania 2 (Serie A)
12/12/2009 Bari 3 Juventus 1 (Serie A)
12/8/2009 Juventus 1 Bayern Munich 4 (Champions League)
12/5/2009 Juventus 2 Inter Milan 1 (Serie A)
AC Milan Recent Form
1/6/2010 AC Milan 5 Genoa 2 (Serie A)
12/13/2009 AC Milan 0 Palermo 2 (Serie A)
12/8/2009 FC Zurich 1 AC Milan 1 (Champions League)
12/5/2009 AC Milan 3 Sampdoria 0 (Serie A)
11/29/2009 Catania 0 AC Milan 2 (Serie A)
For Juventus Mohamed Lamine Sissoko will not play in this match, as he will be playing in the African Cup of Nations. Vincenzo Iaquinta, Mauro German Camoranesi, Gianluigi Buffon and David Trezeguet are all out with injuries and Caceres is suspended and is out for this match.
For Milan they are many injury concerns, as Alexandre Pato, Massimo Oddo, Gianluca Zambrotta, Oguchi Onyewu, Clarence Seedorf and Adiyah, Mathieu Flamini and Massimo Ambrosini are all doubtful for this match. David Beckham will probably get the start and Milan will likely play an attacking 4-3-3 formation.
Juventus has not played great defense this season, especially lately, but Giorgio Chiellini has been great and he will be counted on to mark Ronaldinho, but do not look for him to keep Milan from scoring, as their offense is playing with a ton of confidence.
With Buffon out AC Milan has the fortune of not having to face one of the best goalies in the world. Don’t look for backup G Antonio Chimenti to keep a clean sheet against the solid Milan offensive attack.
Gennaro Ivan Gattuso missed a lot of time for AC Milan, but has looked great since returning. He will have a big match in the middle of the field and set up a goal or two and will also help thwart the Juventus attack.
AC Milan will take advantage of the Juventus and their struggling defense and score at least 2 goals in this match.
Juventus only has 4 goals in their last 4 matches and since they will be dealing with a solid Milan defense they will have a hard time scoring in this match. Strikers David Trezeguet and Vincenzo Iaquinta are also injured, so Juventus will be starting this match short-handed up front.
Jason’s Pick: The draw may be the smart pick in this match, but I think that AC Milan will take it to Juventus in this match and continue their good play. AC Milan will increase their lead over Juve by 4 points in this match, as I see a score a 2-1 victory for the away squad.
