AC Milan head coach Stefano Pioli is expected to make a few alterations to the side that won in midweek in the Europa League for this afternoon’s game against Empoli.
According to La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below), Mike Maignan will be in goal with Davide Calabria coming in for Alessandro Florenzi at right-back. There should be a double change at centre-back too, with Malick Thiaw and Fikayo Tomori coming in for Matteo Gabbia and Simon Kjaer. Theo Hernandez remains at left-back.
Tijjani Reijnders and Ismael Bennacer are expected to be the midfield double pivot, with Ruben Loftus-Cheek ahead of them operation in a more advanced role as he has been doing for weeks now.
In attack, Christian Pulisic is tipped to keep his place on the right flank, with Noah Okafor replacing the suspended Rafael Leao on the left wing and Luka Jovic getting a start up front in place of Olivier Giroud.
As per the paper, there are two doubts that remain: the balance is 60-40 as a percentage in favour of Jovic over Giroud, while it is the same for Pulisic to start over Samuel Chukwueze. Tommaso Pobega is the only injury absentee.
Probable Milan XI (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Calabria, Thiaw, Tomori, Hernandez; Bennacer, Reijnders; Pulisic, Loftus-Cheek, Okafor; Jovic.
Probable Empoli XI (4-3-2-1): Caprile; Ismajli, Walukiewicz, Luperto, Pezzella; Gyasi, Marin, Maleh; Cambiaghi, Zurkowski; Niang.
This could well be a 4312 in build up play with Puli behind Okafor and Jović. Let’s see.