Filippo Inzaghi’s AC Milan side visit Roma on Saturday evening looking to become the first side to defeat Rudi Garcia’s side on their own turf this season.
In what will be both side’s last match before the winter break, both have differing reasons to want all three points, with Roma looking to maintain their title challenge while Milan are attempting to secure a spot in the top four.
The Giallorossi will be playing their ninth home match of the current campaign, and have won all but one of those games – the draw coming in their most recent outing after Sassuolo swept into a two goal lead.
They will face a Milan side who themselves have been difficult to beat so far, especially on the road, only losing their unbeaten away record in the game at Genoa earlier this month. They have draw four of their seven away games to date, winning their games at Hellas Verona and Parma.
Saturday’s encounter will be the 80th time the two sides have met in Rome, with the results showing a fairly even spread. Roma have 24 victories, and Milan 27, while 28 matches have been drawn. The most recent away win came in October 2011, when a Zlatan Ibrahimovic brace helped the Rossoneri to a 3-2 victory that took Massimiliano Allegri’s side to the top of the table.
In Jeremy Menez, Inzaghi can count on Serie A’s second top scorer with eight goals to his name so far this season, while Keisuke Honda has six – the same as Roma’s highest scorer Adem Ljajic. All are likely to start on Saturday evening.
However, Garcia will enter this game with three important players unavailable through suspension, with Davide Astori, Miralem Pjanic and Jose Holebas all forced to miss out. Meanwhile, the likes of Salih Ucan, Federico Balzaretti and Lukasz Skorupski will all miss out through injury, as well as Leandro Castan.
The Rossoneri have a long injury list, with Inzaghi unable to call upon the likes of Ignacio Abate, Alex, Mattia De Sciglio and Adil Rami in defence, while Fernando Torres and Marco Van Ginkel will miss out further up the field.
Expected Starting XIs
Roma: De Sanctis; Maicon, Manolas, Yanga Mbiwa, Torosidis; Nainggolan, De Rossi, Keita; Ljajic, Totti, Gervinho.
Milan: Lopez; Bonera, Zapata, Mexes, Armero; Montolivo, De Jong, Muntari; Honda, Menez, Bonaventura.
