AC Milan begin their Serie A campaign with a trip to the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara for a Monday night clash against Bologna. While Bologna have the quality to make things difficult, the Rossoneri look the superior side and should find a way to come out on top.
It was an unremarkable campaign for Bologna last season as they never really looked like challenging for a European spot. They had a poor start, claiming just one win from their opening 10 matches before Thiago Motta came in to steady the ship and secure a ninth-place finish.
Motta may have steadied the ship but the final weeks of the season was not particularly impressive as Bologna claimed just two wins from their final nine matches. They also failed to win any of their final four matches at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara.
There was only one major change at Bologna in the summer as Marko Arnautovic made the switch to Inter Milan. Preseason was not particularly eye catching as they claimed just one win in four matches before beginning their competitive campaign with a 2-0 Coppa Italia victory over lower league side Cesena.
Although they reached the semi-final of the Champions League last season, AC Milan underperformed in Serie A as they put up a weak title defence and eventually finished third. They did pick things up towards the end of the season and ended the campaign with four wins in their final five league matches.
There is a buzz around AC Milan at the moment after a summer of impressive transfers activity. They held on to their key players while bolstering the squad with acquisitions like Samuel Chukwueze, Noah Okafor, Christian Pulisic and Yunus Musah.
AC Milan did not exactly catch the eye during preseason as they only claimed one outright win, a 4-2 victory over Novara un their final warm-up fixture. It remains to be seen how long the new players will need to settle but the one certain thing is that Stefano Pioli’s men will be an interesting watch this season.
How the bookies view it
AC Milan have the upper hand among the bookies with a win priced at evens with 888Sport. A victory for Bologna is valued at 3/1 by BetVictor while a draw is set at odds of 5/2 by Unibet.
Head to head
AC Milan have a 30-6 advantage with 10 draws from 46 previous matches against Bologna. The Rossoneri have won four of the last six meetings and were unbeaten in the two fixtures last season with the clash at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara ending in a 1-1 draw.
Players to watch
In the absence of Marko Arnautovic, Ricciardo Orsolini will be the one to watch for Bologna. The striker scored 11 Serie A goals last season and could be backed to hit the ground running on Monday at 7/2 with BetVictor.
Rafael Leao and Olivier Giroud were undoubtedly among the best players for AC Milan last season and despite the attacking reinforcements, could still be worth keeping an eye on. Giroud is priced at 2/1 by William Hill to find the net on Monday while Paddy Power is offering odds of 5/2 on Leao in the same market.
Anything else catch the eye?
Bologna and AC Milan look like they can find their way to goal and both teams could be backed to score at 10/11 with bet365. The hosts saw over 3.5 goals in last week’s Coppa Italia tie and a repeat is priced at 29/10 by BetVictor while over 2.5 goals is valued at 21/20 with Coral.
Given AC Milan’s superior attack, they can be backed to score in both halves at 12/5 by bet365.
This Serie A match between Bologna and AC Milan will be played on Aug 21, 2023 and kick off at 19:45. Check below for our tipsters best Bologna vs AC Milan prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
