After salvaging a point in their first away fixture last weekend, AC Milan return to San Siro on Saturday, hosting a Bologna side seeking their first league win.
While the champions remain unbeaten following a 1-1 draw with Atalanta, their visitors have picked up just one point from their first two Serie A matches.
Showing the steel that saw them secure the Scudetto in May – and staying unbeaten for an 18th straight league game – Milan came back from behind to secure a draw from a Lombardy derby last time out, leaving them with four points from their first two games.
Ismael Bennacer slammed home an unstoppable equaliser at the Gewiss Stadium, and the Algerian’s second-half strike kept intact the longest run without defeat currently ongoing across the top five European leagues.
With 12 wins and six draws during that time, the Rossoneri have established themselves as top dogs in Calcio for now, but as all their main rivals have been busy in the transfer market, they cannot afford to take their foot off the gas.
The architect of their success has been head coach Stefano Pioli, who will be determined to improve on one of Milan’s few flaws from last season: an excellent away record saw them win 14 of 19 games on the road, but they were a little less reliable at San Siro.
Victory over Bologna would see them win their first two home games in three successive seasons for the first time since 2003, and as they have lost just one of their last 25 Serie A meetings with the Emilians, precedent is certainly in their favour.
Bologna have been beaten 18 times during that spell, with their last win over Milan coming, incidentally, while current coach Sinisa Mihajlovic was briefly in charge of the Rossoneri.
Under his leadership, though, the Emilian outfit went undefeated in their most recent matches against Milan, Juventus and Inter, and they can pose the top sides plenty of questions on their day – as Inter found to their cost last April, when they effectively let the title slip away with defeat at Dall’Ara.
However, after edging past Cosenza in the Coppa Italia earlier this month, Bologna have since begun their league campaign by losing to Lazio in Rome and then drawing 1-1 with Hellas Verona last weekend – being reduced to 10 men on both occasions.
Indeed, two of the six red cards in Serie A so far have been shown to the Rossoblu’s players – Adama Soumaoro against Lazio and Riccardo Orsolini versus Verona.
While Mihajlovic is a known advocate of fighting spirit, he will want his team to avoid such a setback on his return to San Siro, as they seek to cause an upset and post their first three-point haul of the season.
AC Milan Serie A form:
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AC Milan form (all competitions):
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Bologna Serie A form:
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Bologna form (all competitions):
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We say: AC Milan 2-0 Bologna
With little to offer by way of a goal threat, Arnautovic aside, Bologna cannot afford to concede too often this season. Milan’s growing depth in the final third should see them break through at some stage, and the champions should then coast home to three points.