AC Milan vs F91 Dudelange Predictions

AC Milan are back in European action this week, as they chase a place in the last 32 of the Europa League. They are hosting group minnows F91 Dudelange, and the visitors are massive outsiders for this trip to Italy. The home side were put to the test in a weekend trip to Lazio, where they pushed to get back into the Champions League places. Their quest to return to Europe’s elite competition is on hold for the time being, but they should be looking to make the step up from clashing with the likes of the Luxembourg side.

Milan are in the middle of a defensive crisis, with several first team stars being ruled out. They are struggling on numbers, but despite that they produced a dogged display at the weekend. They went to Lazio in Serie A, which was a crunch game in the battle for fourth place. They could only manage a draw, after the Aquile snatched a last minute leveller. That late blow has hit Milan, but they’ll be hoping to bounce back with a comfortable win against Dudelange on Thursday.

The visitors are yet to claim a point in this group, so they have no chance of catching second placed Milan even with a win. The away side are struggling for goals, and they lost the reverse clash 1-0 back in September. They’ve fallen out of the running for a top two finish, but this group remains tight. Olympiakos are in third, level on points with Milan. A point above them are Real Betis, which has set this one up nicely for the final two matches. Thursday sees Betis hosting the Greek side, so Milan will be out to take advantage of one of those two dropping points.

The group seems set up for Milan to make the next round, and they are heavy favourites to take the points here. However, it remains to be seen how Gattuso will approach the game. With a clash with sixth placed Parma coming up on Sunday, they should have one eye on that. That should mean that a few first teamers miss this clash, as Gattuso tries to preserve what is left of his injured plagued squad.

We aren’t suggesting that the visitors can pull off a shock, but we don’t think this is going to be a huge hammering. The hosts started with a defence first attitude in their weekend match, and now they are set to rotate some of their top stars. We see them grinding out a win, having scored just six times in their four matches in this group. With that in mind, we’re going for a home win and under 3.5 goals, as Milan look to book their last 32 place.