Saturday 17th March 2012, 5pm GMT
After Napoli, Inter and Udinese bowed out this week, only AC Milan remain to fly the flag for Italy in Europe - though they will have to overcome Barcelona to make it past the quarter final stage. Their slightly less-than-comfortable 4-3 aggregate win over Arsenal in the Champions League was followed on Sunday by a solid 2-0 league victory over Lecce.
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| Ibrahimovic celebrated his return from suspension with a hat-trick in Palermo |
Milan’s league form since the winter break has been the stuff of champions. Despite a substantial injury list, the Rossoneri have shown consistency while their closest contenders Juventus have been faltering and dropping points. A four-point lead at this stage of the season is a valuable one, and Massimiliano Allegri will no doubt be targeting all three points tomorrow when his team visit Parma.
Parma’s form this season has been erratic as usual. They are not completely assured of safety from the relegation battle, but improved resilience in recent weeks (they have only lost two of their last ten games) has ensured that they sit six points above the danger zone in sixteenth place. Roberto Donadoni’s appointment as coach in January has obviously galvanised the Crociati team, and they have also been scoring more since the former Milan player took charge.
Ignazio Abate and Alessandro Nesta will be unavailable for Milan due to injury, and centre-half Philippe Mexes is suspended. Parma winger Raffaele Palladino is also injured.
I expect Milan to march on with another win tomorrow, but I prefer the odds on the goalscoring market to those on the win-draw-win market. The champions have been in fine goalscoring form of late – Ibrahimovic in particular has been superb (apart from his show of indiscipline against Napoli) - and Parma penetrating Milan’s defence at some stage wouldn’t surprise me either. The last time these two met it finished 4-1 to Milan, so let’s hope for more goals tomorrow!
Prediction – over 2.5 goals – 5pts
Match odds: Parma 4/1
Draw 12/5
AC Milan 7/10
Over 2.5 goals evens
