Can Milan topple the reigning champions and league leaders?
A real cracker awaits us on Sunday evening at San Siro on this international soccer weekend. The resurgent Rossoneri will face the reigning Scudetto winners and current Serie A leaders Napoli in front of their home crowd. Curiously, German-licensed bookmakers still consider the hosts to be the more likely winners ahead of the AC Milan vs. Napoli clash.
However, there are good reasons for this, as coach Massimiliano Allegri’s team currently has no reason to fear any opponent given their performances so far. If you disregard the completely undeserved 1-2 home defeat at the start of the season against promoted Cremonese, the Lombards have celebrated nothing but victories so far this season. Including the two Coppa Italia matches, “Il Diavolo” has five wins from six competitive games. Also noteworthy: all victories were achieved with a clean sheet!
In terms of results, the Partenopei have gone one better, with the defending champions making a perfect start to the new season with four wins in their first four games. On closer inspection, however, it becomes clear that Conte’s team, which suffered its only competitive defeat to date in the Champions League at Manchester City, needed a bit of luck on more than one occasion to secure three points.
Last week against newly promoted Pisa, it was two late goals in the closing stages and a flurry of chances from the underdogs that were enough for a narrow 3-2 home win. In the previous home game against Cagliari, it was a lucky punch from Zambo Anguissa in the 95th minute that sealed the deal. The reigning national champions still have a lot of room for improvement and must step up their game at the Guiseppe Meazza Stadium if AC Milan and Napoli are to at least make the double chance X2 prediction come true.
Although the Rossoneri made a strong defensive impression in their first few games and SSC, under Antonio Conte, are known for their stable, compact play against the ball, I am not averse to betting on over goals before the AC Milan vs. Napoli game.
After all, both teams have scored at least once in all four Serie A games so far. In addition, there is a lot of individual quality on the pitch. Kevin de Bruyne, Rasmus Hojlund, Christian Pulisic, and Santiago Gimenez are always good for goals!
AC Milan – Napoli Head-to-head record
In 2022/23, the clubs met in the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League. Milan narrowly won 2-1 on aggregate. In the meantime, however, the Neapolitans have overtaken Milan in a sense. While the Rossoneri have no international commitments at all this season, Napoli have an extremely important Champions League home game against Sporting Lisbon coming up on Wednesday.
In the previous season, Conte’s team won both direct matches against AC Milan. In fact, Il Diavolo has only won once in its last ten home games against Napoli in Serie A. Also worth noting: in five of the last six direct matches at league level, at least two goals were scored, and four times the over 2.5 would have been reached.
AC Milan – Napoli Tip
When the third-placed team meets the league leaders, it’s safe to say that it will be a top match on the 5th matchday of Serie A. Milan faces Napoli and is determined to confirm the positive impressions of recent weeks. After their opening defeat against Cremonese, the Rossoneri have celebrated three consecutive league wins without conceding a goal, putting in some extremely strong performances. A touch of euphoria is currently sweeping through the red and black part of the Italian fashion city. After a season to forget, those in charge around Zlatan Ibrahimovic seem to have made the right adjustments in the summer.
However, SSC Napoli can also be spoken of in the highest terms. The reigning national champions have four wins in four games to their name. However, it must be taken into account that the Partenopei have not covered themselves in glory in terms of their football and have had to overcome several weak phases against opponents who are considered weaker.
Added to this is the absence of defensive leader Buongiorno, which is obviously a blow. In view of this, my tip is that there will be more goals than expected. In the Bet365 app, you can get attractive odds of 2.05 for over 2.5 goals between AC Milan and Napoli.
