The reigning champions AC Milan hope to wrap up their 2022 schedule more effectively on Sunday while they welcome Fiorentina to San Siro after falling to third and being eight points behind the Serie A summit.
The Rossoneri were held by newly promoted Cremonese in midweek, which was their second straight defeat away from home. As the season comes to an end for the World Cup, they will want to strengthen their Scudetto defence by defeating visitors running into top form.
Olivier Giroud’s injury-time goal helped Milan defeat Spezia at home, but just days later they were frustrated by a Cremonese team that had not won since joining Serie A in the summer and was currently residing in the relegation zone.
Stefano Pioli’s team completely dominated possession during Tuesday’s match in Cremona, but a mixture of competent goalkeeping and careless finishing led to a scoreless draw, which allowed Lazio to overtake them and move into 2nd position in the table.
Rafael Leao and Charles De Ketelaere, who are headed to Qatar, came off the bench to join the action after the break, but Milan’s attack, which was spearheaded by Divock Origi, who was not selected by Belgium, was unable to get past the tenacious defence of their hosts.
The champions have only earned one point out of their last six opportunities on the road after losing their most recent away contest at Torino late last month. This is a sharp contrast to their impressive home form.
In their last ten Serie A home games, Milan have averaged 2.3 goals per game, winning nine times and losing just once to league-leading Napoli. Half of those games saw Milan keep a clean sheet.
Pioli, who oversaw 69 top-flight games as Fiorentina’s head coach between 2017 and 2019, will be eager to capitalise on Milan’s opportunity to wrap up the first half of the season at their impressive home stadium – a place where they defeated the visitors 1-0 in the teams’ most recent meeting, when they were on the verge of winning the title back in May.
Strangely, despite generally having the worse head-to-head record between the two teams, Fiorentina has only lost one of their last 11 Serie A games against Milan in the first half of the season.
They may think they have a good chance of continuing this streak on Sunday night because of a recent surge that saw them return to the top half of the table just before the World Cup break and advance to the knockout rounds of the Europa Conference League.
A team that was unable to capitalise on their opportunities and make their possession of the ball count has benefited greatly from the return of summer signing Luka Jovic to something resembling his best form. The Serbian striker scored again this past week as the Viola defeated Salernitana 2-1 thanks to his 81st-minute winner.
For Vincenzo Italiano’s team, who had previously defeated Spezia, Sampdoria, and Latvian team RFS in a three-game road trip before arriving back in Florence on Wednesday, it was their fifth straight victory across all competitions.
Fiorentina hasn’t lost in any of their last 3 Serie A away games as well, and if they can pull off a surprise this weekend, they’ll make it four straight for first time under Italiano. The Viola, led by aspirational owner Rocco Commisso, will look to maintain their fighting spirit when playing away; they have allowed just six goals in seven Serie A away games so far and average over a point per game. The Viola cannot accept being eight points outside of the European spots.
Milan Team News
Stefano Pioli ought to choose the best starting XI at his disposal on Sunday after fielding an unusual formation as well as some second-choice players in midweek.
Fode Ballo-Toure and Divock Origi are forced to make way for France internationals Theo Hernandez and Olivier Giroud, who have both served their suspensions and will rejoin the team. Since joining Milan last year, Giroud has ended up scoring four goals in his last 4 appearances, and Milan has won 17 of the 18 games in which he has done so.
Rafael Leao, who started Tuesday’s game on the bench and scored twice in 3 prior Serie A meetups with Fiorentina, including his first goal in the Italian top division back in September 2019, is now back on the left side of the home team’s front three.
Goalkeeper Mike Maignan once more shares the Milanello treatment room with Davide Calabria, Sergino Dest, Alexis Saelemaekers, Alessandro Florenzi, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic; Junior Messias is also questionable.
AC Milan possible starting lineup:
Tatarusanu; Kalulu, Tomori, Kjaer, Theo Hernandez; Tonali, Bennacer; Krunic, Brahim Diaz, Leao; Olivier Giroud
Fiorentina Team News
Meanwhile, Gaetano Castrovilli and Nicolas Gonzalez, both wide players for Fiorentina, are out for an extended period of time due to injuries.
Luka Jovic is likely to start up front at San Siro after Arthur Cabral did so on Wednesday. His teammates could include former Milan players Riccardo Saponara and Giacomo Bonaventura, the latter of whom scored 30 goals in 155 Serie A games for the Rossoneri between 2014 and 2020.
Fiorentina possible starting lineup:
Terracciano; Dodo, Milenkovic, Martinez Quarta, Biraghi; Amrabat, Mandragora; Jonathan Ikone, Bonaventura, Kouame; Luka Jovic
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