AC Milan travel to face Salernitana on Saturday night as the Rossoneri look to continue to lead the way in Serie A.
Ahead of the weekend’s fixtures, Milan currently sit top of the standings, a point above rivals Inter, but with the Nerazzurri having a game in hand.
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With Napoli just two points adrift and the battle for a top four spot to consider as well in a worst case scenario, Milan know that they can ill-afford any slip-ups at this stage of the season as it could prove to be very costly.
In turn, Pioli will hope to be in a position to name as strong a starting XI as possible, but it remains to be seen who provides the creative threat in the final third.
Ibrahimovic still not ready, Kessie to play in trequartista role?
Pioli confirmed in his press conference on Friday that Zlatan Ibrahimovic has not yet recovered from injury to be in a position to feature, and so that in turn means Olivier Giroud will continue to lead the line for us.
Much of the side is expected to be the same as that which faced Sampdoria last time out, and so that would see a backline formed by Theo Hernandez, Alessio Romagnoli, Fikayo Tomori and Davide Calabria in front of Mike Maignan between the posts.
With positives signs from their partnership in that win last weekend, it will be great to see Sandro Tonali and Ismael Bennacer given another chance to impress and further develop that link in front of the defence, while Alexis Saelemaekers and Rafael Leao are likely to get the nod to provide us with a threat down the flanks as well as putting in defensive shifts.
As noted by MilanNews, via Sky Sport Italia, there seems to be only one position in doubt, and that’s whether Franck Kessie or Brahim Diaz is deployed in the trequartista role.
For a game such as this, it could be argued that the creativity and innovative play that Diaz can provide could be crucial to unlocking a stubborn Salernitana defence.
That said, Kessie can also shut down their midfield and prevent them from setting the tempo and controlling possession, while he has shown he can provide a goal threat in addition to that as well.
In turn, it’s a tough decision for Pioli, but perhaps the right way to go is allow Kessie to help impose ourselves and stamp our authority on the game in the early stages, and if we’re struggling to find a breakthrough and need to switch things up, Diaz will be itching to get on and try to make a difference.
With the likes of Ante Rebic, Messias Junior and Daniel Maldini also on the bench, Pioli won’t be short of offensive options, and so it’s hoped that Milan can come away with all three points and continue our march towards the Scudetto, or at the very least a strong finish to the campaign to show that we’re continuing to become more competitive year on year.
