After starting off the season with a touchline ban, Jose Mourinho will finally be back on the sidelines Friday night as his AS Roma team faces AC Milan in a tough home fixture.
Mourinho often likes to take a very conservative approach in big matches, and hence, we could see a very cagey affair with very little or even no scoring. Bookmaker William Hill offers odds at 1.60 for under 2.5 goals and at 2.75 for under 1.5 goals in the match.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: August 31st, 6:00 P.M. (EST)
The Special One makes his way back to the dugout in a match-up that has brought a lot of frustration for him through the years. Milan is among three teams Mourinho has never beaten in Serie A. His record against the Rossoneri reads two draws and two losses. With Roma off to a disappointing start to the campaign, a victory on Friday would taste extra sweet for him.
Roma had a bad finish to 2022-23 and things have continued in the same vain this season. An opening day 2-2 draw at home versus Salernitana was followed by a 2-1 defeat to Verona on the road last weekend. The result leaves Mourinho’s men sitting on just one win through their previous 10 league outings.
Things aren’t getting any easier for the Giallorossi Friday as Paulo Dybala and Nicola Zalewski got hurt against Verona, joining a growing injury list, which includes Tammy Abraham and Renato Sanches. New signing Romelu Lukaku is also unlikely to feature in Friday’s big match.
Milan has only Ismael Bennacer out injured, and a healthy squad is definitely one of the reasons why the Rossoneri have enjoyed a very good start to the season. Christian Pulisic has hit the ground running at his new club, helping Milan to three points in both of the team’s first two matches. Can Stefano Pioli’s men now make it three wins in three games, with Olivier Giroud also off to a hot start?
Pulisic has grabbed the headlines, but Giroud already boasts three goals for the league season. The French veteran seems to age like fine wine and looks set for another productive campaign after finishing last season with 18 goals across all competitions, his best mark since 2015-16. On Friday, Giroud can become the first Milan player to hit four-plus goals in the first three league games of a season since Andriy Shevchenko in 2001-02.
