Preview: Milan vs Atalanta – Team News, Lineups & Prediction

Stadio San Siro units the stage for a ‘make or break’ Serie A showdown between top-four hopefuls Milan and out-of-form Atalanta. Milan’s season is prone to really fizzling out, with the Rossoneri working out of steam down the ultimate stretch.

Fikayo Tomori’s first-half expulsion closely contributed to Milan’s disappointing 2-0 defeat at mid-table Sassuolo final weekend, with Massimiliano Allegri’s facet struggling their third loss in 5 league matches (W1, D1). With Juventus squeaking previous Lecce yesterday, they’ve now leapfrogged Milan within the standings, heightening the strain on the 19-time champions forward of this conflict.

Roma may intensify that strain with a win at Parma earlier in the present day, however it’ll ultimately all come down as to whether Milan can maintain up their finish of the cut price towards Atalanta. Certainly, they nonetheless boast a three-point lead over the fifth-placed Giallorossi, which means they continue to be in agency management of their top-four future, in contrast to Atalanta, whose European ambitions are successfully out of their arms.

A string of underwhelming outcomes, bookended by a scoreless house draw towards bottom-half Genoa final day trip, has left Raffaele Palladino’s staff on the precipice of lacking out on European soccer for the primary time for the reason that 2022/23 season. Lazio denied La Dea an alternate path to continental qualification by beating them within the Coppa Italia semi-finals final month.

With seven factors separating them from sixth-placed Como initially of the spherical, something aside from a win at San Siro will spell the tip of their European hopes.

Match Preview

Milan

Conscious of the full-blown disaster in his midst, Allegri referred to as an emergency assembly this week, hoping to stem the bleeding, as Milan had misplaced as many video games of their final 5 league matches (3) as all through the remainder of the Serie A marketing campaign mixed. Now can be an ideal time for the Rossoneri to get again on monitor, but their latest report towards Atalanta can’t encourage confidence.

A 1-1 attract October’s reverse fixture stretched Milan’s winless streak towards La Dea to 5 Serie A matches (D2, L3). Moreover, they’ve emerged victorious from solely two of their final 11 top-flight encounters at San Siro (D5, L4), underscoring the magnitude of the duty forward. Nonetheless, they need to safe their first house win over Atalanta since February 2023 in the event that they’re to maintain Roma at bay.

That might show simpler mentioned than executed given the hosts’ spectacular downfall in latest weeks. No Serie A staff has scored fewer objectives than Milan for the reason that begin of April (1), with the Rossoneri ominously failing to search out the again of the online throughout their final two league outings on house soil (D1, L1). Consequently, they may go three consecutive Serie A house video games with out scoring for the primary time since 2017.

Atalanta

Milan’s tough patch can encourage Atalanta, as they bid to bounce again from a five-game winless streak in all competitions (D2, L3) and keep near Como forward of the season finale. Like their rivals, they’ve discovered objectives troublesome to return by, scoring greater than as soon as in simply a kind of 5 matches, although it was in a 3-2 loss at Cagliari on their final street journey.

Winless in 4 successive Serie A video games (D2, L2), Palladino’s males appear incapable of holding onto seventh spot, which may nonetheless assure European qualification, relying on the end result of the upcoming Coppa Italia last. Nonetheless, the guests have faltered on the street these days, selecting up simply two wins from their final eight away league outings (D4, L2).

Atalanta’s depressing away type doesn’t finish there. They’ve received none of their 5 league visits to sides at present above them within the standings (D4, L1), suggesting extra ache may observe right here. La Dea can nonetheless financial institution on their spectacular run towards Milan, although the truth that they haven’t saved a clear sheet of their final eight aggressive away matches paints a bleak image.

Staff Information

Along with the suspended Tomori, Milan may even be with out veteran celebrity Luka Modric, who suffered a season-ending damage towards Juventus. With the Croatian midfield dynamo out of competition for this match, it’ll probably be as much as Ardon Jashari to fill the emptiness.

As for Atalanta, Lorenzo Bernasconi stays the one notable absentee, with Davide Zappacosta anticipated to take his place on the left wing. In the meantime, Gianluca Scamacca would possibly get the nod in assault forward of Nikola Krstovic, who has failed to attain in his final two Serie A appearances.

Milan vs Atalanta Potential Beginning Lineups

Milan (3-5-2): Maignan; De Winter, Gabbia, Pavlovic; Saelemaekers, Fofana, Jashari, Rabiot, Bartesaghi; Leao, Gimenez.

Atalanta (3-4-2-1): Carnesecchi; Scalvini, Hien, Ahanor; Bellanova, De Roon, Ederson, Zappacosta; De Ketelaere, Zalewski; Scamacca.

Milan vs Atalanta Prediction

Given what’s at stake right here for each groups in addition to their well-documented struggles in entrance of objective, this contest has all of the makings of a tense and cagey affair that could possibly be determined by the best of margins. Despite the fact that some extent received’t do a lot to assist both facet, a share of the spoils appears like probably the most sensible end result.

Prediction: Draw

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