The Rossoneri are just four points adrift the leaders Inter Milan at second spot and will be aiming to close the gap when they face Jose Mourinho’s side at San Siro.
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AC Milan will host AS Roma in the Serie A fixture on Thursday. The Rossoneri are just four points adrift the leaders Inter Milan at second spot and will be aiming to close the gap when they face Jose Mourinho’s side at San Siro. Having narrowly lost 1-0 to Napoli the previous weekend, Stefano Pioli’s side wrapped up the year with an entertaining 4-1 win against Empoli at Stadio Carlo Castellani. Meanwhile Roma had won two of their last three league games and managed to hang on to the sixth spot, going into the winter break.
Milan had a decent start to the league and kept pace with the pace setters Napoli before a run of four defeats in eight games since November’s derby della Madonnina had seen them slip to third spot. But then, a brace from Franck Kessie against Empoli helped Milan to return to the second place
A rough start but @10Ronaldinho and @Pato had other plans: relive our win in 2009 against Roma ✌️⏪
Ronaldinho e Pato rimontano il vantaggio giallorosso: riviviamo la vittoria del 2009 ✌️⏪ @skrill #MilanRoma #SempreMilan pic.twitter.com/QarlOp1NiW
— AC Milan (@acmilan) January 5, 2022
Meanwhile the victory in Tuscany ensured that they became only the second team in Serie A history to achieve at least 17 away wins in a calendar year. However, their home record is a poor seventh-best in the league, losing two of their last three home games in the top flight.
On the other hand, AS Roma has been fairly inconsistent this season. Mourinho’s side finished the year with a frustrating 1-1 draw against Sampdoria after defeating fourth-placed Atalanta 4-1.
Mourinho has had an impressive home record since taking charge of the side in May, 2021, winning six of their league fixtures at home, keeping five clean sheets in the process. However, in contrast to Milan who have been impressive on road, the capital club has been poor away from home. Losing five of their nine away matches so far.
Pioli has good news as his attacking trio of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Rafael Leao and Ante Rebic are back in the training after recovering from injuries and are available for the match against Roma and are expected to feature on Thursday.
In the absence of both Bannacer and Kessie, Sandro Tonali could join Tiemoue Bakayoko in the midfield in the 4-2-3-1 formation. Right-back Davide Calabria is also back from injury and will contest for a place in the starting eleven.
Roma will welcome back Lorenzo Pellegrini to the side after an injury layoff during December, and he should start in support of Nicolo Zanilol and the top scorer Tammy Abraham up front.
