AC Milan v Arsenal: Gunners’ losing streak to be extended

“Milan have won their last six matches without conceding a goal, and they can exploit the weaknesses of an Arsenal team playing without confidence.”

Back AC Milan to win at [2.22]

AC Milan v Arsenal
Thursday March 08, 18:00
Live on BT Sport

It’s been a curious season for AC Milan. They spent hundreds of millions of euros during an impressive summer recruitment drive, but coach Vincenzo Montella struggled to make all the shiny new pieces fit together. If anything, Montella had looked more comfortable when he was trying to get the best out of youngsters and players with less stellar reputations.

With the team seemingly going nowhere fast, Montella was replaced by former Milan midfielder Gennaro Gattuso. His coaching CV had been previously unspectacular, but he had done good work with Milan’s youth department, and since his promotion he has thrived.

After a very tricky start, Gattuso has found his feet at this level, and Milan are flying. They have reached the final of the Coppa Italia (they knocked out a very good Lazio team), and they have won their last six matches in all competitions without conceding a single goal. They have beaten Roma, Lazio and Inter under Gattuso, so they’ll have no fears about facing Arsenal.

Milan didn’t play at the weekend because the Milan derby was rightly postponed as a result of Davide Astori’s tragic death, so they have had a few extra days to prepare for this. Gattuso has few injury concerns, with Andrea Conti the only potential absentee as things stand.

We’re getting to the stage of Arsene Wenger’s time at Arsenal where the stubborn Frenchman is in serious danger of tarnishing what should be a glittering legacy. This is a man who has spent decades modernising and transforming a club to stunning effect, but like a fading boxer who refuses to hang up his gloves, Wenger has gone on too long.

Arsenal have lost their last four matches in all competitions, and away from home (if you include the EFL Cup final drubbing against Manchester City) they have lost a staggering 11 times this season in all competitions. If you look at some of the names of the clubs they’ve lost to on the road, it makes for grim reading for Arsenal fans: Stoke, Watford, Nottingham Forest, Koln, Brighton, Bournemouth and Swansea have all beaten the Gunners this season.

Wenger admits the Europa League is all the Gunners have left to fight for, with a top-four finish in the Premier League an outrageous pipe dream at this stage. The Gunners can’t call upon the ineligible Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang or the injured Alex Lacazette, so Danny Welbeck is likely to lead the line once again, supported by Mesut Ozil and Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

Arsenal’s confidence is on the floor, they have no cohesion as a unit, and Wenger looks short of ideas. It’s a group of players in dire need of fresh impetus, just as Milan were before Gattuso took charge.

The Gunners are light in attack and vulnerable in defence, and I predict another away defeat against a Milan side that has strength in defence, energy in midfield and ingenuity in attack.

I’ll back the hosts at [2.22].

Milan have been superb in defence recently, and they haven’t conceded a goal since the first week of February. Six of their last eight games have featured fewer than three goals, and if they take an early lead, they may try to slow things down to prevent the Gunners from taking a precious away goal back to north London.

Under 2.5 Goals is trading at [1.92].