AC Milan will play their first Serie A game of the new year on Sunday as they take on Empoli at the Stadio Carlo Castellani, and there could be a couple of interesting changes to the line-up.
The team will obviously be very different from the one that beat Cagliari 4-1 in the Coppa Italia on Tuesday night given that the likes of Antonio Mirante, Alex Jimenez, Chaka Traore and Luka Romero all start.
La Gazzetta dello Sport (via Radio Rossonera) predicts seven changes compared to the last outing in the cup, with Samuel Chukwueze and Ismael Bennacer having departed for the African Cup of Nations and with various injuries still to deal with.
Mike Maignan will be back in goal, then Matteo Gabbia is expected to come straight into the team after his return from Villarreal was confirmed earlier in the week. Simon Kjaer should partner him, with Davide Calabria and Theo Hernandez the full-backs.
The alternative is that Alessandro Florenzi could play in place of Gabbia, and he would then swap with Theo who would move to centre-back so the Italian can play left-back, as has happened in recent games.
Yacine Adli should be in the middle of the midfield three again, with Bennacer and Tommaso Pobega out and with Yunus Musah returning but potentially only fit enough for the bench. Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Tijjani Reijnders seem certain of a place.
The paper has the front three as Christian Pulisic, Olivier Giroud and Rafael Leao, with Luka Jovic sent to the bench despite being in red hot form.
Probable Milan XI (4-3-3): Maignan; Calabria, Kjaer, Gabbia, Theo Hernandez; Loftus-Cheek, Adli, Reijnders; Pulisic, Giroud, Leao.
