AC Milan head east to the Stadio Friuli on Saturday looking to secure all three points against Udinese, which might give them a glimmer of hope of making the Europa League places for next season, while the home side’s main aim for the rest of the season is to try to break into the top half of the table, an aim well within their reach, with the table been so compact with six games remaining.
The Zebrette sit in 15th position on 35 points in the standings and drew 1-1 away to Chievo last Sunday, while the Rossoneri had to settle for a 0-0 Derby della Madonnina draw with Inter which leaves them in ninth on 43 points, seven behind fifth place Sampdoria in the last Europa League place.
Filippo Inzaghi’s men hold the upper hand against Andrea Stramaccioni’s charges in recent previous meeting in Serie A winning five of the last ten match ups, including a 2-0 win in November thanks to two Jeremy Menez goals, but Udinese did beat Milan twice last season with a 1-0 win at the Friuli and a 2-1 Coppa Italia victory at the San Siro thanks to a Nicolas Lopez strike late on.
The Zebrette will once again be relying on veteran front-man Antonio Di Natale for goals as he remains the top-scorer with 11 goals in Serie A, and came close to adding to that tally as he came off the bench last Sunday only to hit the bar with a superb effort minutes after entering the pitch.
Milan themselves are counting on 16 goal top-scorer Menez to come up with the goods again as their next highest scorer is Japan international Keisuke Honda on a miserly six goals.
Udinese are expected to make three changes to the starting line-up from last time out against Chievo with Di Natale expected to replace Cyril Thereau as the lone striker, while Gabriel Silva is set to come in for Giovanni Pasquale on the left and Guilherme will replace the suspended Bruno Fernandes in central midfield.
Thomas Heurtaux and Maurizio Domizzi remian on the sidelines with their respective injuries.
Saturday should see Mattia Destro reclaim his place in the Rossoneri starting eleven after missing the derby last weekend, with Inzaghi knowing only wins will do from now on to have any hope of claiming a place in the Europa League next season.
Stephan El Shaarawy, Riccardo Montolivo and Michael Essien will miss out as they continue their rehabilitation.
Form Guide: Udinese (D-L-L-D-D-D), Milan (D-D-W-W-L-D)
Expected Starting XIs
Udinese : Karnezis, Piris, Danilo, Bubnjic, Widmer, Allan, Guilherme, Pinzi, Gabriel Silva, Kone, Di Natale.
Milan : Diego Lopez, Abate, Mexes, Paletta, Antonelli, Poli, De Jong, Bonaventura, Suso, Destro, Menez.
