AC Milan vs Ferencvarosi TC preview and prediction: a 24th-placed home side meets the unbeaten team in 4th

Context and table

AC Milan host Ferencvarosi TC in the Europa League on Thursday 5 November, with kick-off at 17:45 UTC. The two sides meet at very different points in the standings, at least as things stand at the time of writing.

AC Milan are 24th after 3 matches. They have 1 win and 2 defeats, 3 points, and a goal difference of -1 (4 scored, 5 conceded). Ferencvarosi TC are 4th with 3 wins from 3, 9 points and a goal difference of +6 (9 scored, 3 conceded). That is a gap of 6 points going into the coming rounds, and both clubs may play again before this fixture.

AC Milan's recent form

Milan's last 5 matches brought 3 wins and 2 defeats, with 11 goals scored and 9 conceded. The sequence has been uneven. They won 4-0 at Red Bull Salzburg on 15 October and 3-2 at home to Atalanta on 18 October. Then came a 0-3 defeat at Bournemouth on 22 October, a 2-0 win at Udinese on 25 October and a 2-4 home loss to Bologna on 28 October.

Over 9 matches this season Milan average 2 goals scored and 1.2 conceded per game. They have kept a clean sheet in 33% of those matches and have not failed to score in any of them. Some 56% of their games have produced more than 2.5 goals.

Ferencvarosi TC's recent form

Ferencvarosi TC have not lost in their last 5 matches, winning 3 and drawing 2, with 13 goals scored and 4 conceded. They beat Plzen 2-1 at home on 15 October, drew 1-1 at Kisvarda FC on 18 October, won 4-1 against Torreense on 22 October and then beat MTK Budapest 5-0 on 25 October. Before that, they drew 1-1 with Debreceni VSC on 10 October.

Across 11 matches this season they average 2.3 goals scored and 0.7 conceded per game. They have kept a clean sheet in 36% of those games, have scored in every one, and 73% have gone over 2.5 goals.

Head-to-head and absences

There are no previous meetings between the clubs on record, so this fixture has no shared history to draw on.

Outlook

The form points towards a difficult evening for the home side. Ferencvarosi TC arrive with the better table position, a stronger recent run and a tighter record at the back. Milan have shown they can score freely, with 4 goals at Salzburg and 3 against Atalanta, but they have also conceded 4 to Bologna and 3 at Bournemouth.

Both teams have found the net in every match this season, so goals look likely. A close contest looks the most reasonable expectation, with the visitors' consistency the main point in their favour.