AC Milan host Juventus at San Siro on Sunday night in a crucial showdown for both sides.
The Rossoneri suffered a controversial and disappointing loss to Spezia last time out, and so Stefano Pioli will want to see a positive reaction from his players to ensure that we get back on track at the first time of asking.
READ MORE: Five key talking points as Milan fall to costly defeat to Spezia amid controversial end
As for the visitors, they will see this encounter as a significant opportunity to close the gap on the top four in Serie A, and in turn put themselves firmly back in the race for Champions League qualification.
With so much at stake for both sides as Milan hope to re-establish ourselves in the Scudetto race, it promises to be a tense yet fascinating encounter to round off the weekend.
Triple boost for Milan as key trio to return to XI
Milan continue to be hampered by absences through various reasons, whether it be injury or international duty, and so Pioli won’t be at full strength again this week.
Franck Kessie is still at the AFCON, while Fikayo Tomori, Simon Kjaer, Fode Ballo-Toure and Pietro Pellegri are all sidelined too.
However, there is good news for the Milan boss as Davide Calabria is expected to start this game after getting minutes last time out following his spell out with an injury, while captain Alessio Romagnoli has recovered from Covid and will take his place in the backline too.
That should hopefully shore things up in that department as we’ve looked vulnerable in recent games, while there is also the added boost of Sandro Tonali returning to the Milan XI after he served his one-match suspension against Spezia.
Given how influential and important he has been for Milan so far this season in both phases of the game, his presence in the heart of the side will be a huge factor, and it’s hoped that he can produce one of his best performances on Sunday as that will undoubtedly give us a much better chance of getting something from the game.
Pioli could shuffle his pack in the final third with Messias Junior tipped to get the nod over Alexis Saelemaekers on the right flank, as reported by MilanNews, with Rafael Leao and Brahim Diaz offering support behind Zlatan Ibrahimovic too.
Diaz and Ibrahimovic have been out of form in recent weeks, thus leading to an over-reliance on Leao to lead our attack with the Portuguese winger, to his credit, stepping up and delivering.
However, given the quality and experience of the opposition this weekend, we need a team performance and for everyone to play their part, and so time will tell if we can put the disappointment of Spezia behind us and react strongly to close the gap on Inter at the top of the table again.
