The Italian Serie A begins this week with an interesting match between two struggling sides, as Genoa travel to San Siro to take on AC Milan.
 
Milan comes into this match in dismal form having gone winless in their last three matches in all competition and the pressure is now at an all time high, as the massive change at the club has been unsettling to say the least and all eyes are on Coach Massimiliano Allegri and how much longer he’ll be in the job. The fact that the club is sitting in 15 th place with only goal difference keeping them out of the relegation zone while they 7 points off the European places and 11 points off the Campions League places is a cause for concern, however when digging deeper their problems lay in ther mediocre play across the board having only kept 1 clean sheet to date and are relying heavily on a slew of players that have yet to find any cohesion. The key to this team is not only how forwards Giampaolo Pazzini and Stephan El Shaarawy form a partnership but arguably more important is the needed improvement from a questionable defensive core. The inclusion of midfielders like Antonio Nocerino and Nigel De Jong are a good attempt at making the problem but they can only do so much, the club will likely need to tread water until January when they can spend on bringing in defensive upgrades.
 
Genoa have their own crisis to deal with after their current four match winless run has seen the club part ways with Luigi De Canio and bring in Luigi Del Neri as his replacement, this was following their most hefty loss of the season last weekend in a 4-2 drubbing at the hands on AS Roma. This club is the typical mid-table side, however their situation is slightly worse off with the news that forward Marco Borriello could be sidelined for up to six weeks with an ankle injury. In most seasons this is one of those clubs that make life difficult for the big clubs on occasion when the odds are stacked against them, however in this case with both sides in very questionable form and the boost of having a new manager could give Genoa a good chance. Key players for this match are goalkeeper Sebastien Frey as well as midfielders Juraj Kucka and Alexander Merkel, the play of Frey is particularly vital to restructuring the defensive formation and being a experienced leader at a time the club need it most.
 
I’ll go with Genoa against the spread here, as with all the problems they are going through playing under a new manager could give them a boost against opposition that are feeling serious pressure under their own predicament.