The 2017/18 Serie A season is taking shape very nicely and after six games, we are starting to find out which sides are expecting a strong campaign and which are already struggling. One team that are yet to play their sixth game are AS Roma and it isn’t an easy one as they travel to Milan to face a strong AC side at the San Siro. Both sides find themselves in the top six as the hosts are 6^th while Roma are 5^th with a game-in-hand on the teams above.

STATS

• AC Milan spent a lot of money on improving their squad over the summer and while they haven’t started too badly, their fans may have wanted more. They have won four and lost two of their opening six matches but a 4-1 loss to Napoli and a 2-0 loss to Sampdoria were extremely disappointing. They have beaten a few of the lower rated sides but they need to prove they can beat the best.
• AS Roma have started the new season in even better form and have only failed to pick up three points on one occasion which was a poor 3-1 home loss against Inter Milan. They have won their other four, scoring 11 goals in the process. They played well in their last fixture as they beat Udinese 3-1 courtesy of goals from Edin Dzeko and Stephan El Sharaawy.
• One of AC Milan’s players who featured regularly for them last term is their leading goal scorer in the league. However, with just two goals, Suso shouldn’t be the top scorer in a side striving for Champions League football.
• There is no surprise to see Edin Dzeko as Roma’s top scorer this season so far and with six goals in his first five games, there are only two players in the Italian top flight with more goals. Ciro Immobile (8) and Paulo Dybala (10) are those players.

HEAD TO HEAD

Despite being one of Italy’s most known clubs, AC Milan have struggled to perform in recent years and their form against Roma supports this fact. They have won just one of the last 10 meetings between the sides while Roma five wins in that period. They haven’t had problems scoring against the Romans as both teams have scored in four of the last five fixtures but they haven’t managed to turn in any great performances in these fixtures.

Head to head matches: AC Milan - AS Roma

07.05.2017	Seri	AC Milan	AS Roma	1:4
12.12.2016	Seri	AS Roma	AC Milan	1:0
14.05.2016	Seri	AC Milan	AS Roma	1:3
09.01.2016	Seri	AS Roma	AC Milan	1:1

AC MILAN NEWS

A win for AC Milan in this match would certainly show their intentions to compete as a top side in the Serie A after they have struggled so far against the bigger teams. They are without Gabriel Paletta, Luca Antonelli, Riccardo Montolivo and Davide Calabria for the clash but they will be covered by potentially better players.

Latest matches: AC Milan

28.09.2017	UEFA	AC Milan	HNK Rijeka	3:2	W
24.09.2017	Seri	Sampdoria Genoa	AC Milan	2:0	L
20.09.2017	Seri	AC Milan	Spal 2013	2:0	W
17.09.2017	Seri	AC Milan	Udinese Calcio	2:1	W
14.09.2017	UEFA	FK Austria Vienna	AC Milan	1:5	W

AS ROMA NEWS

Roma can overtake their arch-rivals, Lazio and go into fourth with three points over AC Milan but they have plenty of injury worries going into the match. Emerson might return while Gregoire Defrel, Diego Perotti, Abdullahi Nura and Patrick Schick are all injured and aren’t expected to feature for Roma in this one.

Latest matches: AS Roma

27.09.2017	UEFA	Qarabag FK	AS Roma	1:2	W
23.09.2017	Seri	AS Roma	Udinese Calcio	3:1	W
20.09.2017	Seri	Benevento Calcio	AS Roma	0:4	W
16.09.2017	Seri	AS Roma	Hellas Verona	3:0	W
12.09.2017	UEFA	AS Roma	Atletico Madrid	0:0	D

SUMMARY

It’s a very tough one to call as everyone knows how the AC Milan fans can support their players but AS Roma go into the game with more confidence and with a stronger squad. For those reasons, Roma are the slight favourites to take the victory at the San Siro but AC Milan’s capabilities can’t be underestimated as they also have plenty of great players. It shouldn’t be a walk in the park for the visitors.