AC Milan are taking on Monza this evening and after the Napoli defeat, three points are a must for the Rossoneri. As always, there are five key battles that could decide the game, from the defence to the attack.
Paulo Fonseca will have Theo Hernandez and Tijjani Reijnders back at his disposal for this game, and Christian Pulisic has already recovered from illness. Rafael Leao, meanwhile, is expected to start on the bench once again – the third consecutive league game.
Below, we have collected five battles that we think could be decisive for Monza-Milan, taking player form and more into consideration.
The key battles
Starting at the back, from Milan’s perspective that is, Milan Djuric is expected to start for Monza and he will surely be a handful for Strahinja Pavlovic. A Bosnian against a Serbian, to fuel the battle, and the aerial duels will be the key to winning it.
Between the midfield and defence, Daniel Maldini will be operating – provided that he starts – and the feeling is that Youssouf Fofana will mark him the most. The former Milan attacking midfielder will start from the right, but Tijjani Reijnders is of course more attacking-minded than Fofana.
Shifting focus to Milan’s attack, Christian Pulisic will be back in the No.10 role and he will surely be up against Warren Bondo a lot. The young midfielder, who has linked with the Rossoneri quite a lot, works hard and will likely operate in the same spaces Pulisic.
On the flank, Samuel Chukwueze will be looking to continue his good form and he will certainly have a pace advantage over his opponent, Giorgos Kyriakopoulos. The latter is not super slow, but the Nigerian’s dribbling and acceleration could cause major issues.
Finally, Alvaro Morata will be up against the centre-backs but also Matteo Pessina, mainly when Monza have the ball. The Milan product works more or less as a regista for the team and most plays go through him, so cutting him off would be great for the Rossoneri.
