Bologna play host to AC Milan in match week 23 of the 2016/17 Serie A season as both sides look to move up the table from their respective positions. AC Milan will hope to pick up all 3 points so that they can challenge for the European spots as they’re currently 8^th with a 6-point gap between themselves and 4^th, but with this game-in-hand, they have a great chance to close the gap. Bologna are sitting in 14^th and will hope to get a win so that they can move further away from the relegation zone, even though they are 13 points clear.

STATS

• Bologna’s recent form hasn’t been too bad as they have managed to pick up 3 wins from their last 6 outings in the league, a record that has seen them climb slightly up the table. But a 7-1 home defeat against Napoli last time out certainly hasn’t helped the team confidence as Marek Hamsik and Dries Mertens both scored hat-tricks.
• AC Milan are on much worse form with only 1 win in their last 7 league games and without a single win in the last 4, a record that has seen them fall away from the European spots. A disappointing 1-0 defeat to Sampdoria at the San Siro won’t have helped the team’s morale ahead of their visit to Bologna.
• Bologna have struggled to find a clear goal scorer for the in the league this season as Mattia Destro is currently leading their charts with only 5 goals, disappointing for the side’s main striker at this stage of the season.
• Carlos Bacca has been AC Milan’s leading talisman in the league so far this season with 8 goals, a total that is very disappointing from such a natural goal scorer like Bacca. Suso has the second highest total for Milan with 5 goals, which isn’t too bad for a player who spends most of his time on the wing.

HEAD TO HEAD

AC Milan have dominated this fixture in recent times with 4 wins in the last 6 meetings between the two, with Bologna only winning one. Bologna are yet to beat AC Milan at their home ground in the 21^st century.

BOLOGNA NEWS

Bologna will be looking to take their relatively strong form into this fixture against AC Milan and they have almost a full squad available to be picked. Saphir Taider misses out with a knee injury he picked up last month and Filip Helander is also unavailable with muscular problems sustained last month.

Latest matches: Bologna FC

04.02.2017	Seri	Bologna FC	SSC Napoli	1:7	L
29.01.2017	Seri	Cagliari Calcio	Bologna FC	1:1	D
22.01.2017	Seri	Bologna FC	Turin FC	2:0	W
17.01.2017	Copp	Inter Milan	Bologna FC	3:2	L
14.01.2017	Seri	FC Crotone	Bologna FC	0:1	W

AC MILAN NEWS

AC Milan will want to put a horrible run of results behind them with a convincing win away at Bologna but with several players missing, it makes the task a lot harder. Mattia De Sciglio (ankle), Luca Antonelli (leg), Giacomo Bonaventura (hamstring) and Riccardo Montolivo (cruciate ligaments) will all miss the midweek game.

Latest matches: AC Milan

05.02.2017	Seri	AC Milan	Sampdoria Genoa	0:1	L
29.01.2017	Seri	Udinese Calcio	AC Milan	2:1	L
25.01.2017	Copp	Juventus Turin	AC Milan	2:1	L
21.01.2017	Seri	AC Milan	SSC Napoli	1:2	L
16.01.2017	Seri	Turin FC	AC Milan	2:2	D

SUMMING UP!

As the relatively big team that they are, AC Milan certainly go into the game as strong favourites but with a shocking run of form and several key injuries, they might struggle to overcome Bologna. The home side will hope to use their decent form and their home crowd to push them over the line to beat Milan. There has only been 1 goal in each of the last 3 games between these two so don’t expect a goal fest in this one.