AC Milan face Lazio at San Siro in a Serie A showdown on Saturday evening, and Stefano Pioli is set to welcome a key trio back to his starting line-up.
The Rossoneri came from behind to defeat Cagliari in midweek to make it back-to-back league victories, and we’ll hoping to make it three on the bounce ahead of the return of Champions League football next week.
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It promises to be a difficult assignment despite Lazio’s indifferent start to the season given the quality in their squad, and so we’ll have to produce an improved performance to ensure we come out on top.
While Pioli has rotated in recent games and rested key individuals during the week, the expectation is that we’ll be closer to our full-strength line-up for the visit of the Biancocelesti.
Maignan, Leao and Giroud set to return to Milan XI
Having missed our last two games after picking up a knock against Newcastle Utd, Mike Maignan is expected to return to the line-up and replace Marco Sportiello.
While his teammate has done a solid job in filling the void in his absence, there is no doubt that Maignan’s quality both in his goalkeeping influence as well as his distribution are crucial for us, and so it will be a significant boost to have him back.
In defence, Alessandro Florenzi could continue at right-back, as per MilanNews, but as seen below in La Gazzetta dello Sport’s suggested Milan XI, Davide Calabria could be in contention to return after his own spell on the sidelines.
While it’s perhaps preferable to have the latter back given he is first choice when available, Florenzi’s industry and worth ethic has ensured we haven’t missed Calabria as much, and so it remains to be seen if Pioli feels as though he’s ready to come back in or isn’t worth the risk.
Malick Thiaw, Fikayo Tomori and Theo Hernandez are expected to keep their respective places and complete the backline.
It’s a similar story in midfield with Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Yacine Adli and Tijjani Reijnders impressing at Cagliari, and so Milan are likely to stick with the same trio and hope that they continue to be effective in both phases of the game. That said, could Yunus Musah force his way in and show his ability to play in the Adli role? It could be one change that Pioli considers making.
There will seemingly be changes up top, as although Christian Pulisic will keep his spot, he’ll switch to the opposite flank as we welcome Rafael Leao back after his midweek rest, while Olivier Giroud is expected to replace Noah Okafor in leading the line.
It was important to see our squad players produce a decisive impact on Wednesday, as it may give Pioli more confidence to use them in future if he feels that they can make an important contribution and we can be less reliant on our usual suspects.
Nevertheless, with Leao and Giroud suitably rested, they’ll hopefully be fresh and ready to be as influential as they have proven to be over the past couple of seasons to help us secure three crucial points.
Predicted AC Milan XI vs Lazio: Maignan, Florenzi, Thiaw, Tomori, Theo; Loftus-Cheek, Adli, Reijnders; Pulisic, Giroud, Leao.
