AC Milan will play their final Serie A match before Christmas on Sunday in the early kick-off against Sassuolo at San Siro.
Milan are hoping to defend top spot in the table before jetting off to Saudi Arabia for the Supercoppa Italiana. Sassuolo have been one of the league’s surprise packages though so far after returning to the top flight, and historically they have caused the Rossoneri a lot of issues.
AC Milan vs. Sassuolo: Predicted starting XIs
According to La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below), Massimiliano Allegri will be without Rafael Leao, Youssouf Fofana and Santiago Gimenez. All three are recovering from injuries, but are hopeful of boarding the plane out to Riyadh during the week.
At present, Fikayo Tomori, Matteo Gabbia and Strahinja Pavlovic will be the three-man defence again in front of Mike Maignan, with Alexis Saelemaekers and Davide Bartesaghi as the wing-backs.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek is expected to join Ardon Jashari and Adrien Rabiot in the midfield trio, with Christopher Nkunku and Christian Pulisic being the duo to lead the line.
The doubts at the moment concern whether Koni De Winter will start over Tomori, whether Luka Modric could in fact start, or if Samuele Ricci could be in the midfield with Loftus-Cheek presumably pushing up.
Predicted Milan XI (3-5-2): Maignan; Tomori, Gabbia, Pavlovic; Saelemaekers, Loftus-Cheek, Jashari, Rabiot, Bartesaghi; Nkunku, Pulisic.
Predicted Sassuolo XI (4-3-3): Muric; Walukiewicz, Idzes, Muharemovic, Doig; Thorstvedt, Matic, Kone; Volpato, Pinamonti, Lauriente.
Good if Modric gets a rest and that we doesn’t have to deal with an apparently injured Berardi.
Great, i think this a perfect game to rest modric and start jashari.
I would give someone from the defence to rest as well. Let De Winter to play more
I really don’t see this happening. More likely Modric gets rest during the Supercoppa, seeing that Sassuolo is a very good team, and I have no doubt Allegri prioritises the league at this point.
RLC is only a utility player. Do not expect him to fulfill a pre-determined task. If you place him in the midfield and tell him to do this and this, he will definitely fail. In fact he always looks good when he has to fill in for somebody else unexpectedly. He is so random.
I’ve seen Sassuolo play a few times this year. Not the biggest team in Serie A, but they’re very physical. I like seeing some size in the midfield for this game, because we’re going to need it. Hope Saelemaekers doesn’t get baited into a card, because he’s going to get hit. If the Rossoneri keeps its cool, they win 3-1. If not…