AS Roma - AC Milan
Football: Italian Serie A, 27th matchday
Saturday, 6th February 2010. Kickoff 20:45

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AS Roma (3rd) HOME 11-0-2 25:10

Despite getting axed from the Europa League AS Roma continues to be unbeaten in Serie A since October 2009. Giallorossi took the 2-3 loss to Panathinaikos quite easily and showed no signs of psychological downtrend when they faced Napoli later on last week.

Ranieri made a few adjustments in order to fix the leaky defensive line: Roma’s formation was transformed to 5-4-1 with Mexes-Burdisso and Juan starting the match in the center of defense. Marco Motta and John-Arne Riise were assigned to control right and left wings respectively.

Julio Baptista was given a rare start as a target man with Vucinic, Taddei, De Rossi and Perrotta all supporting from the deep. The decision to make such drastic changes in a short 3 day period for the visit to a solid side like Napoli – really deserves appreciation. Even though Roma were unfortunate not to keep the winning result, Ranieri’s actions showed how variable his tactical vision can be.

For the Saturday fixture against Milan hosts welcome back David Pizzaro. Chilean holding midfielder missed both of Roma’s latest encounters. Luca Toni is available for selection, but should be left at the bench after Baptista’s performance vs. Napoli. Francesco Totti’s condition remains a mystery. Roma is now third in the table.

Expected formation and line up :
AS Roma (4-2-3-1)
Julio Sergio
Motta, Juan, Burdisso, Riise
De Rossi, Pizzaro
Taddei, Perrotta, Vucinic
Baptista

Unavailable
F. Totti

AC Milan (2nd) AWAY 7-4-2 18:10

Leonardo remains in charge of Milan despite being virtually ousted from the Champions’ League in the 1/8 finals. On the domestic front things look better on paper, at least for the time being. Milan sits second 4 points behind city-rivals Inter. Hardly the proclaimed title hopes are actually believed in by the board of directors.

This way or another the game at Stadio Olimpico represents a chance to build a significant gap from Roma. The second place guarantees a direct ticket to the UCL group stage unlike the third and fourth positions.

First leg match at Giuseppe Meazza was overturned by Milan in the second half. Rossonerri clinched a 2-1 victory after trailing to an early goal from Jeremy Menez. Leonardo is without Alexandre Pato and Genarro Gattusso. The brazilian ace is injured yet again, while the Italian bully is suspended. Also on the injury list is Clarence Seedorf and Onyewu.

Expected formation and line up :
AC Milan (4-3-3)
Dida
Zambrotta, Nesta, Thiago Silva, Jankulovski
Beckham, Pirlo, Ambrosini
Borrielo, Huntelaar, Ronaldinho

Unavailable
C.Seedorf, U.Onyewu, A.Pato, A.Mancini, G.Gattuso;

Betting advice

Being a life long AS Roma fan I perfectly recall the h2h history vs. Milan. These affairs have recently become very entertaining to watch with plenty of goals being scored almost on every occasion.

Neither of the two has a good defensive record over the last weeks, while offensively things do look better.

Everything is pointing to another high scoring encounter.

The Statistics :

PERCENTAGE ESTIMATE :

AS Roma 38%; Draw 30%; AC Milan 32%;

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Take Over 2.5 @ 1.85 with Bet365