Milan aim to mount pressure on the Serie A summit when they face 7th-placed Atalanta midweek at the New Balance Arena in Bergamo.
Despite being the only unbeaten team in the league this season, Atalanta have had little to celebrate as they are currently out of the European places with 12 points across the board. La Dea have suffered just one loss in the campaign so far, and that came against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League. At the same time, they have failed to register important victories,
leaving them with seven draws across all competitions.
Ivan Juric’s men posted their fourth consecutive league draw following the 1-1 stalemate with Cremonese during the weekend. Atalanta are 3 points away from the top four spots, but their contenders are equally capable of extending the lead.
Juric will have Ademola Lookman for this matchup alongside Nikola Krstovic and Gianluca Scamacca; however, the same attacking line-up was expected to yield rich dividends this season, but they failed to capitalise on multiple opportunities to hand Atalanta the three points.
Meanwhile, AC Milan come to this fixture on the back of a 2-2 draw against newly promoted Pisa. Rafael Leao netted an early opener from long range, but the Rossoneri soon felt the heat when Pisa completed the turnaround thanks to goals from Juan Cuadrado and M’Bala Nzola. It took Luka Modric in added time to set up Zachary Athekame for the equaliser to salvage a point from the match.
The stalemate with Pisa rendered Massimiliano Allegri’s men vulnerable to being overtaken by two of their league rivals. Following the conclusion of the matchday, Milan saw Napoli and Roma surpass them in the standings, but they have a meagre point lead at the summit.
Allegri’s troops are eight games unbeaten across all competitions this season, and a win over Atalanta midweek would put them right back in form to challenge for the Scudetto. While the Italian manager has quelled talks of a potential title charge numerous times this season, fans are optimistic about their team’s chances since they are not featuring in any European competition.
Team News
Atalanta will be without the likes of Mitchel Bakker and Giorgio Scalvini. Honest Ahanor might get the nod to start in defence, and Marten de Roon will return to the midfield.
As for Milan, fans will expect Leao to continue his goalscoring form after netting thrice in his last two matchdays.
Santiago Gimenez is predicted to be dropped, and injury returnee Christopher Nkunku to feature in the attack. Allegri cleared Ruben Loftus-Cheek for the game, and he could start from the bench.
Predicted XIs
Atalanta (3-4-2-1): Carnesecchi; Djimsiti, Hien, Ahanor; Bellanova, Ederson, De Roon, Zalewski; De Ketelaere, Lookman; Scamacca.
Milan (3-5-2): Maignan; Tomori, Gabbia, Pavlovic; Saelemaekers, Fofana, Modric, Ricci, Bartesaghi; Nkunku, Leao.
