It has been a very tough week for the Rossoneri. After the 2-1 defeat to Torino, the hope was that they would be able to at least win the game in hand against Bologna. Despite taking the lead, however, the Rossoblu eventually prevailed after scoring twice.
During his pre-match conference earlier today, Conceicao stated that he believes in top four and that things could improve with the slimmed schedule this month. Indeed, now he will actually get proper time to work with the players.
There are still some injuries to note, unfortunately, as the likes of Kyle Walker, Alessandro Florenzi and Ruben Loftus-Cheek should miss out on the game. The Man City man might make it back for the bench, but either way Alex Jimenez will be the starting right-back again.
Luka Jovic returned last time out, though, and he looked quite promising from the few actions we saw. In terms of suspensions, there are none for the Rossoneri but Yunus Musah will have to be a bit careful, as he’s currently one card away from a suspension.
As for the starting XI, there has been a lot of talk about Conceicao’s constant changes and while the XI will be similar to what we saw against Bologna, he will make a change. Christian Pulisic, who wasn’t 100% on Thursday evening, will be back from the first minute.
Joao Felix, meanwhile, will be sent to the bench and as confirmed by the manager during his pre-match conference, he would have been benched already against Bologna if it wasn’t for Pulisic’s struggles. For the rest of the eleven, it’s pretty much what you would expect.
Mike Maignan, Theo Hernandez and Tijjani Reijnders will continue their run of starting every single game under Conceicao’s guidance. The Dutchman will likely have a more advanced role, more No.10-esque, as was so successful earlier in the season.
Speaking of No.10, Rafael Leao will be looking to find the back of the net once again, as well as some more consistency in the final third. The goal was great last time out but he also struggled a bit in the 1v1s, so hopefully his confidence has been boosted by the former.
Predicted Milan XI (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Jimenez, Thiaw, Pavlovic, Theo Hernandez; Fofana, Musah; Pulisic, Reijnders, Leao; Gimenez.
