Arsenal vs AC Milan Betting Pick | Champions League

Champions League

2012-03-06 - Arsenal vs AC Milan

A Sports Betting Pick by Auls

Arsenal v AC Milan
Football: European Champions League, Last 16 Second Leg
Tuesday 6 March 2012 - Kick Off 7:45pm
AC Milan lead the tie 4-0 from the First Leg
This game is live on TV

Arsenal

It is going to take some performance for Arsenal to overturn a 4-0 deficit from the first leg and make their way into the Quarter Finals of the Champions League. Recent performances will at least give the supporters hope that they can do that, but the defence will have to really step up their game if they don't want to leave the side with an even bigger mountain to climb.

After the defeat at the San Siro, Arsenal fell out of the FA Cup at Sunderland and there must have been a feeling of deja vu from last season as they fell 0-2 down at home to Tottenham Hotspur. However, they recovered to win that game 5-2 and have since beaten Liverpool too which has had Arsene Wenger purring that they have nothing to fear from this game.

A bigger concern for the fans will be the fact that they have not kept a clean sheet in their last 4 home games in all competitions since beating Leeds United in the FA Cup. Even more worrying will be the fact that they have conceded at least 2 goals in 3 of those 4 games and anything similar to that will leave them in a position where they may need to score 5 or 6 goals to even have a chance of going through.

Abou Diaby, Mikel Arteta and Yossi Benayoun all suffered knocks against Liverpool and will not be taking part in this game. Kieran Gibbs and Tomas Rosicky both face late fitness tests.

AC Milan

AC Milan must have had a few worries when they were drawn with yet another English club at the last 16 stage of the Champions League, but they have put themselves in a very strong position after the game at the San Siro and will feel confident having performed fairly well in games played in England rather than Italy in recent seasons.

The Rossoneri have been in decent form of late and have maintained a 3 point lead over Juventus in Serie A, despite only drawing 1-1 against their old rivals in a recent League game. The Italians are coming to England with a good mentality of trying to play the same as they would even if they did not have a big lead to defend and that may help prevent any nerves creeping into the side if they just sit back and allow momentum to get away from them.

Milan have won their last 3 away games coming into this one, and they have actually won 6 of their last 7 away from the San Siro. They have also only lost 2 of their last 13 away games in the Champions League and have drawn their last 4 in the competition on their travels including at Barcelona in the group stages this season.

Clarence Seedorf and Kevin-Prince Boateng are doubts, while Maxi Lopez, Pato, Alessandro Nesta and Alexander Merkel are all ruled out.

Head to Head

Arsenal and AC Milan have met twice before in North London, with both games finishing 0-0.

The last time they met here was in the 2007/08 season when the first leg ended goalless at the Emirates Stadium.

Prediction

Arsene Wenger has all but admitted that his side are going to go all out attack from the very first minute in this game and this is surely going to lead to goals in the game, either for or against them.

The problem is that the Gunners just don't defend well enough as far as I am concerned and they are always liable to conceding goals... And this is in games where they don't have to leave the backdoor open in search of goals to get themselves back in the game.

AC Milan have enough talent to take advantage of any gaps that Arsenal allow at the back and I am sure the Italians will look for the 'killer' goal here that will effectively put an end to the tie despite what Arsenal are able to do going forward.

I have a feeling that Milan are more than capable of winning this game if they use their counter-attack to the full extent they can, and they have shown their ability to win away from home in Italy, but I have been put off a little by their away form in the Champions League this season.

One way or another, I do anticipate goals and so I will take the Overs and hope the defending is not up to par against the wave and wave of attacks Arsenal will have to use.

The Statistics :

ARSENAL LAST SIX HOME FORM
	DATE	RESULT		OPPOSITION
	2011-11-23	W	2-1	H v Dortmund
	2011-11-01	D	0-0	H v Marseille
	2011-09-28	W	2-1	H v Olympiakos
	2011-08-16	W	1-0	H v Udinese
	2011-02-16	W	2-1	H v Barcelona
	2010-12-08	W	3-1	H v Partizan_Belgrade

MILAN_AC LAST SIX AWAY FORM
	DATE	RESULT		OPPOSITION
	2011-12-06	D	2-2	A v Plzen
	2011-11-01	D	1-1	A v BATE_Borisov
	2011-09-13	D	2-2	A v Barcelona
	2011-03-09	D	0-0	A v Tottenham
	2010-11-23	W	0-2	A v Auxerre
	2010-10-19	L	2-0	A v Real_Madrid