AC Milan face Bologna in our next Serie A clash on Friday night, and here’s how Sergio Conceicao’s starting line-up could look for the encounter.
The two sides meet again next week in the Coppa Italia Final, and while the opportunity to win silverware will naturally take precedence, these are three important potential points on the line for the Rossoneri as we look to try and climb the league standings in the final weeks of the season.
READ MORE: Injury boost for Milan ahead of Bologna clash, trio doubtful after setbacks
Conceicao is expected to rest certain individuals and there was a fresh injury setback last time out which will force him into at least one change, but the Rossoneri are likely to name a strong starting XI for this clash, and it’s hoped that we can continue to build momentum, confidence and good form heading into our crunch clash with Bologna next Wednesday night in Rome.
Five ruled out, three potential changes from Conceicao
As per Sky Sport, while there is an injury boost for Milan with Tammy Abraham recovering from an injury setback to feature, Warren Bondo, Riccardo Sottil and Youssouf Fofana won’t be called up due to setbacks, while Emerson Royal hasn’t yet reached the necessary level of conditioning to make his comeback.
Naturally, given the influential role he has played in our midfield all season, the biggest absentee in that list is Fofana who picked up a foot issue in our win over Genoa last time out, but the suggestion in the report above is that the Frenchman will be back to face Bologna next week.
Meanwhile, Rafael Leao also misses out due to suspension, and so the expectation is that Conceicao will make three changes to the side that started earlier this week, with Joao Felix and Santiago Gimenez coming in for Fofana and Luka Jovic respectively, with Loftus-Cheek set to drop back into our midfield to partner Tijjani Reijnders.
Although La Gazzetta dello Sport have Matteo Gabbia continuing in the heart of our back-three as seen in the graphic below, MilanNews suggest that Malick Thiaw could come in to replace the Italian centre-half, likely with the view of resting him for next Wednesday having been in good form in recent weeks and played a key role in marshalling our defence.
Those potential changes aside, it will be Mike Maignan continuing between the posts, with Fikayo Tomori and Strahinja Pavlovic completing our backline, while Alex Jimenez and Theo Hernandez will get the nod in the wing-back roles.
In the final third, it will be Christian Pulisic completing our attacking trident with Felix and Gimenez, and so it’s hoped that we strike the right balance and pick up another important win, with those involved either in the starting line-up or off the bench all desperately pushing to convince Conceicao to give them a starting berth next week in the Cup showdown.
For now though, we must focus on the task in hand, and that’s putting in a convincing performance to build more confidence and seal three points to try and close the gap on those above us in the Serie A table.
Predicted AC Milan XI vs Bologna: Maignan; Tomori, Thiaw, Pavlovic; Jimenez, Loftus-Cheek, Reijnders, Theo; Pulisic, Gimenez, Felix.
Image courtesy of La Gazzetta dello Sport.