AC Milan vs Hellas Verona Prediction: Pulisic to net in big Milan win

AC Milan will be looking to address their season-long inconsistency at San Siro on Saturday when they host a Hellas Verona side who have shipped goals at will this term (20:45 local, 19:45 GMT).

The Rossoneri were beaten by Feyenoord in Europe this week and if they are to build some momentum ahead of the second leg of that play-off fixture, then Verona need to be seen off. My AC Milan vs Hellas Verona predictions follow, alongside team news and match odds.

Team News

Milan boss Sergio Conceicao can call upon Yunus Musah, who is back from suspension, but Ruben Loftus-Cheek is one of four notable names missing through injury.

The former Chelsea star has a thigh problem, while Emerson Royal is nursing a calf issue, Alessandro Florenzi remains unavailable due to his knee trouble and a muscle strain will keep Warren Bondo out of the picture.

Santiago Gimenez should get the nod after scoring in the win at Empoli last Saturday, meaning no starting spot for Tammy Abraham.

Verona have mixed suspension news, with Daniele Ghilardi missing out but Ondrej Duda returning from his own ban.

Paolo Zanetti is without Casper Tengstedt, who has an ankle problem, while Abdou Harroui (knee ligaments), Suat Serdar (thigh) and Martin Frese (groin) are still missing.

AC Milan vs Hellas Verona Odds

Despite their midweek defeat in the Champions League, Milan are obvious favourites for this one. Betfred have them at 1/3 for the win on Saturday night, with Verona an 8/1 chance, implying only an 11.1% hope of an away victory.

The draw is available at 4/1, which might be worth some attention considering the fact the il Diavolo has played out six ties in 12 home league fixtures so far this season.

Both teams to score has come in for 13 of Milan’s 23 Serie A games this term at a 56.6% hit rate, and it is 10/11 to feature again at an implied probability of 52.4% suggesting a hint of value.

Milan over 2.5 goals @ 5/4

There should be goals in this one for Milan, even considering their return of just 35 in 23 league games to this point.

Verona have the worst defence in the competition, having conceded two of more 15 times so far, and three or more on 10 occasions.

While the Rossoneri are by no means prolific, they have managed to score over 2.5 goals in a game five times so far and coming up against the most generous back line in the league they have to be expected to fire on Saturday.

That’s why I think the 5/4 is a decent price, especially taking into account the early impact of Gimenez up top and the relatively free-scoring nature of Christian Pulisic and Tijjani Reijnders from deep.

Football Odds

Christian Pulisic anytime goalscorer @ 11/8

For a man who so often in the past has seemingly carried the weight of the world on his shoulders, Pulisic has really seemed to have found his groove at Milan.

He bagged 15 goals in 50 games last season, including 12 in 36 in Serie A, and is on target to decimate that this term having netted 12 in 31 across all competitions so far.

And a game like this may well play into his hands, with Verona’s leaky defensive structure likely to offer up plenty of space for Milan’s attacking flair players. There’s also the fact Pulisic is the Rossoneri’s penalty taker tied into the visitors’ probable desperation to make last-ditch tackles, and that could play in our favour with this bet.

So the 11/8 for a goal at any time suits me, with the 42.1% implied probability seeming generous given the expected nature of the contest.

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