The Italian Serie A resumes this week with a marquee fixture between two sides trending in opposite directions but are coming off massive UEFA Champions League wins, as league leaders Juventus travel to San Siro to take on an AC Milan squad wallowing in mid table.
 
This is a chance for Milan to attempt to measure themselves against the best side in Serie A as well as trying to get back into the mix for a European place, although a title run looks well out of reach for the club even before the winter break it is essential for the Rossoneri to secure European soccer for next season and specifically UEFA Champions League if they are to continue to reshape the squad post Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva. Juve will be looking to bounce back from dropping points against Lazio in a 0-0 draw where it was a combination of Lazio keeper Federico Marchetti putting on a standout performance with the Bianconeri unable to finish various chances. Normally this would be a match that was can’t miss, however due to Milan’s decline it won’t live up to the usual in comparison to past meetings. Key players for this match are forward Stephan El Shaarawy as well as midfielders Urby Emanuelson and Riccardo Montolivo for Milan and the midfield trio of Arturo Vidal, Claudio Marchisio and Andrea Pirlo for Juventus, the individual match ups to keep an eye on are El Shaarawy up against one of the best defenses in Europe and legendary keeper Gianluigi Buffon and the combination of Nigel De Jong and Antonio Nocerino working together to mark Andrea Pirlo out of the match.
 
This is an interesting match from a betting perspective and is actually a tougher call that one might expect, I’m going to side with my initial instinct and pick Juve to win this match simply down to the fact that they have depth and are looking to hold off the likes of Inter Milan, Napoli and Fiorentina from an early top table battle.