AC Milan will host Sassuolo in Week 9 of Serie A at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza on Sunday afternoon and the Rossoneri will be looking for their first league win in a month.
Sinisa Mihajlovic’s side are 12th on the Serie A table with 10 points and they have not won a game since defeating Udinese 3-2 on September 22. Since then, they have drawn one and lost two, including a 4-0 loss at home to Napoli.
Eusebio Di Francesco’s team are fourth on the table with 15 points and they won their latest league game 2-1 against Lazio. Sassuolo winger Domenico Berardi made his return from injury in that game and he scored the game’s first goal from the penalty spot.
Berardi is a player that is expected to shine in this encounter. Not only is he the Neroverdi’s talisman and star player, he also has a great record against the Rossoneri having scored seven goals in just four Serie A games and assisting in two goals.
AC Milan have only beat Sassuolo once in the league and that was when they won 2-1 on the final day of the 2013/14 season. They did manage to beat the Neroverdi last season in the Coppa Italia, winning 2-1 at the San Siro thanks to goals from Giampaolo Pazzini and Nigel De Jong.
Mihajlovic is likely to stick with the 4-3-3 formation that he used in the 1-1 draw against Torino in the previous round but goalscorer Carlos Bacca will probably take Luiz Adriano’s spot in the starting line-up.
There are suggestions that Di Francesco might rotate his attack for the Milan game, with Sergio Floccari and Antonio Floro Flores expected to take the places of Diego Falcinelli and Nicola Sansone.
The Rossoneri are still missing Jeremy Menez and M’Baye Niang with long-term injuries while the Neroverdi will be without Luca Antei who has a knee injury.
Form Guide: AC Milan (L-W-W-L-L-D) Sassuolo (D-D-W-D-L-W)
Expected Starting XIs:
AC Milan: Diego Lopez; Abate, Zapata, Romagnoli, Antonelli; Kucka, Montolivo, Bertolacci; Cerci, Bacca, Bonaventura
Sassuolo: Consigli; Vrsaljko, Acerbi, Cannavaro, Peluso; Missiroli, Magnanelli, Biondini; Berardi, Floccari, Floro Flores
Infographic from www.sporticos.com
