AC Milan vs Bologna prediction: ITALY: Serie A betting tips on match 2022-08-26 18:45.
Talk of Rafael Leão’s potential departure from AC Milan continues to dominate headlines, however on the pitch Stefano Pioli’s men have done a good job of putting that distraction to one side and have made an unbeaten start to the season (W1, D1). That start extends an overall unbeaten streak to 18 league matches, which is the longest current active run (W12, D6) of its kind in Europe’s top-five divisions!
Pioli hailed Milan's resilience and maturity following their recent 1-1 draw with Atalanta where they came from behind to secure their 14th point from a losing position in 2022 – no Serie A (SA) side has rescued more in that time. It’s unlikely Milan will need to showcase that strong jaw here though, as the Rossoneri haven’t allowed Bologna to take the lead in any of their last 13 successive SA H2H meetings (W11, D2).
Bologna come into this clash in search of their first SA victory (D1, L1) and their first success against AC Milan at the San Siro since 2016 (D1, L5). Siniša Mihajlović’s side have been very much the architects of their own downfall so far in this campaign and after a dismissal in each of their opening two league games, they are now at risk of becoming the first team since 1994/95 to pick up three red cards in their opening three SA matches.
This fixture looks daunting enough for the visitors even with 11 men on the pitch, made worse by their pretty underwhelming SA record on the road, with just one win across their last 11 road trips (D4, L6). Alarmingly, Bologna have also conceded a combined 11 goals in the final 30 minutes of those matches, pointing to what looks to be vulnerability in the game’s latter stages.
Players to watch: Milan’s IsmaĂ«l Bennacer grabbed a goal and an assist against Bologna last season, and also scored in last week’s draw against Atalanta – all three of those contributions came after half-time. Meanwhile, Marko Arnautović could become only the third player in Bologna’s history to score in their opening three league matches with a goal here.
Hot stat: AC Milan have conceded first in just one of their last 11 SA home games.