AC Milan vs Slavia Prague Prediction: Home side to gain first-leg advantage

The Europa League returns on Thursday night as AC Milan host Slavia Prague at San Siro (20:00, TNT Sports 4). Stefano Pioli’s side have been in indifferent form of late, but sit third in Serie A and are clear favourites to progress in this tie.

Meanwhile Slavia Prague are second in the Czech First League, four points behind bitter rivals Sparta, after drawing 0-0 in the derby at the weekend. Having also been knocked out of the Czech Cup by Sparta, the side from the capital will be pleased to turn their attention to their Europa League, as they head to northern Italy. 

Below is our AC Milan vs Slavia Prague prediction, as two historic clubs meet in the Europa League. 

Team News

Fikayo Tomori and Mallick Thiaw could return to the back four for the hosts as Simon Kjaer may be rested for this one, while Mattia Caldara is on his way back from a long-term injury.

Meanwhile for the visitors, Christos Zafeiris and Ondrej Kolar are both out, with experienced goalkeeper Jindrich Stanek expected to start in between the sticks. Mojmir Chytil and Vaclav Jurecka are expected to start up front together. 

Match Odds

AC Milan are 2/5 favourites to win this game, with Slavia Prague 13/2 to take the win. A draw is 18/5, over 2.5 goals is 8/11 and BTTS is 10/11.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek to score anytime @ 15/8

AC Milan boast a whole heap of goalscoring options, with the likes of Christian Pulisic, Olivier Giroud and Rafael Leao all obvious attacking talents. But one man who has flourished since his move to Italy has been English midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek. 

Deployed as a number ten by Pioli, his physical characteristics and ability to carry the ball forward have been impressive, but his goalscoring touch has come as somewhat of a surprise to Chelsea fans. He’s scored seven times this season, but two in two in the Europa League, a competition that he has flourished in despite limited appearances.

I expect Milan to win this game on home soil, and the price for Loftus-Cheek to find the net again is well worth backing. 

AC Milan -1 @ 6/5

Milan haven’t been at their imperious best of late, but battled their way to a 1-0 win against Lazio in an ill-tempered game at the weekend. However, they possess an awful lot of quality in attacking areas and should be able to overcome a Slavia Prague side who simply are not on their level. 

One defeat in their last 12 league games for Milan makes for better reading, while Slavia have had their confidence dented after the derby double-header. I just believe the gap in quality between these two teams will be apparent and Milan will want to get a two-goal advantage before heading to the Czech capital. 

Check out our other Football Betting Tips here.