AC Milan vs Torino 18/02/20

18 February 2020

Exhausted by a 1-1 Coppa Italia draw with Juventus, AC Milan return to Serie A (SA) action to welcome out-of-sorts Torino to the Stadio San Siro.

Also, the hosts blew a 2-0 halftime lead to lose 4-2 to Inter Milan in their last league match, as they now trail fourth-placed Atalanta by ten points. Indeed, the Rossoneri have suffered a dip in form, going from three consecutive league victories to two straight matches without a win (D1, L1). In order to overcome a momentary crisis, they now have to beat a side who they’ve failed to outplay in their last six top-flight H2Hs (D4, L2). Additionally, Stefano Pioli’s men have won just once in their previous five SA home outings (D4), with all of their four draws in that period featuring under 2.5 goals. Particularly ponderous before the break, Milan have won just one first-half of SA home action played so far this season, but none of the last 11.

Meanwhile, the visitors are going through a rough time in SA, having lost all four of their previous league matches, with the last three producing a losing margin of multiple goals. Interestingly though, just one of Torino’s 11 SA away fixtures has ended in a draw (W4, L6), with six of those ten results (win/loss) yielding a single-goal margin. The ‘clean-sheet theme’ has highlighted Torino’s successes and failures on the road this campaign, with seven of their ten SA away results seeing the winner on the day shut out the losing side. In fact, the Maroons’ inability to respond after conceding the opening goal saw them lose all five of their SA road matches in which they’ve shipped the opener.