AC Milan vs Juventus preview

AC Milan vs Juventus is the star match of the week in the Italian Serie A. Allegri's side are currently placed 13th on the league table while Antonio Conte's side are four points clear of Inter at the summit of the league.

The last meeting between between these two sides at the San Siro ended in 1-1 draw in February,2012. Milan have suffered six defeats this term. They lost the same number of games in the whole of last season.
Out of the seven matches they've played at home this season, four ended in defeats while they won three.

Injuries
Ignazio Abate and Luca Antonini will not feature in Sunday's big clash as a result of injuries.
Giorgio Chiellini is expected to play for Juventus. The Italian got injured in his side's 3-0 bashing of Chelsea on Wednesday night.
Stephan Lichsteiner will be replaced by Mauricio Isla in the colours of the Turin side.

The visitors
Sebastian Giovinco will start along with Fabio Quagliarella. The latter is one of the top scorers in the Italian league.
They have scored 13 goals in their last four matches and they were able to get 16points out of 18 in their last six away matches.

Venue: Guiseppe Meazza Stadium,Milano.
Date 25th November,2012
Time: 19:45 UTC

Our prediction AC Milan 2-3 Juventus
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Will Claudio Ranieri march on?

Massimo Moratti hired Claudio Ranieri when Allegri recorded a string of bad results. Inter Milan have not won a game in the last two months.

Claudio Ranieri

The Italian tactician is under intense pressure. The Nerrazuri have won and lost the same number of matches. and drawn 3 out of the 25 games they've played this season. The 2010 UEFA Champions League winners have scored a total of 34 goals and conceded the same number of goals. Novara and Napoli are some of the teams that have beaten them in the Serie A in recent times. Wesley Sneidjer just seems to have lost his form along with his other team mates. The Internazionale team seems to be aging. Players like Materrazzi,Esteban Cambiaso,Diego Milito and Fabio Cannavaro are getting old. Only Tiago Motta seems to be young and agile to be part of a future Inter Milan team. Diego Forlan has also lost his sparkling form and he has not been able to replicate the form he showed when he was at Atletico Madrid. The Copa America winner and 2010 Europa League winner has not been able to score goals the way he did when he was in Spain.
The departure of  Samuel Eto'o is definitely having a negative effect on this team. How long will Massimo Moratti be able to cope with a string of bad results being recorded at the moment? The Italian man has vowed not to resign his position unless he is sacked.
 Inter Milan are also not doing well in Europe,as they trail Olympique Marseille of France by a goal to nil. The return leg will be held later in March. 

Rivals at WAR!

This weekend promises to be highly explosive across Europe with supremacy battles in England and Italy. At the San Siro, AC Milan will host Juventus. The Milan club are a point ahead of the Turin side who have an outstanding match. The match promises to be a tough one indeed. The Bianconeri (AC Milan) lost 1-0 to Inter Milan a couple of weeks ago, but another loss against Juventus will tilt the title in favour of the Turin side that are enjoying their best spell in the Serie A for the first time since the match-fixing scandal that rocked Italian football seven years ago. Andrea Pirlo finally scored his first goal for Juventus in their 3-1 win over Cagliari last weekend and his performance will go a long way in deciding the midfield tussle between these two teams.
 Will Clarion Seedorf or Aquilani be able to stop Pirlo?
Boateng and Robinho will be expected to lead the front line of AC Milan. Swedish striker, Zlatan Ibrahimovic is currently on suspension.

London battle
Meanwhile, there is a North London derby between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur at the Emirates Stadium. Arsenal's recent form has not been encouraging of late. The Gunners lost 4-0 to AC Milan in the Champions League before been sent out of the FA Cup by Sunderland at the Stadium of Light. The back four of the Gunners is nothing to write home about. It seems the Arsene Wenger side cannot win without Robin Van Persie's goals. The Dutchman has fired blank in his last two matches. Andriy Arshavin has gone back to Zenit on loan.
 On the other side, Tottenham are soaring high in the EPL. Spurs are 10 points ahead of Arsenal that is tied on points with Chelsea. Gareth Bale,Van der Vaart, Adebayor,Defoe and Luka Modric will definitely put on their best to shoot down their North London rivals. Spurs will be looking forward to complete a double over Arsenal for the first time since 1993.

Possible line -ups: (ARSENAL)Szczesny-Sagna,Vermaelen, Koscielny, Gibbs-Walcott, Arteta, Song, Gervinho,Ramsey,Van Persie

(TOTTENHAM)Friedel-Walker, Kaboul, King, Assou-Ekotto-Lennon, Parker, Modric, Bale-Van der Vaart,Adebayo

Other ties.
In France PSG will play against Olympic Lyon in another hot match. The Paris club are a point ahead of second-placed Montpellier that forced them to  2-2 draw last weekend.
In the La Liga, Atletico Madrid will play against FC Barcelona while Rayo Vallecano will host Real Madrid.
Napoli will be at home as they welcome Internazionale to the Sao Paolo stadium in Naples. Edinson Cavani and Ezequiel Lavezzi are the stars to watch for the home side.
In the Nigerian Premier League, Sharks FC of Port Harcourt will host reigning Nigerian Champions,Dolphins FC in a local derby.