Seventh placed AC Milan will look to bounce back from last weekend’s disappointing 2-1 loss to Napoli and Wednesday’s Coppa Italia defeat to Juventus, when they travel to north-east Italy to take on Luigi Delneri’s Udinese side.

 

Early goals from Lorenzo Insigne and Jose Callejon on Saturday evening had left the Rossoneri reeling but Vincenzo Montella’s men came very close to levelling up in the second half. Juraj Kucka pulled one back in the first-half, but it proved to be a consolation as the hosts failed to grab a much needed equalizer. The recent Coppa Italia defeat to table-topping Juventus was only Milan’s first in three outings against the Old Lady. 

 

The last meeting between the two sides yielded an upset as a Stipe Perica late in the game sealed an unexpected triumph for the club from Friuli. The corresponding fixture last season saw Milan triumph in a five-goal thriller having been three goals to the good at one stage. The San Siro clash saw Udinese hold Cristian Brocchi’s men to a 1-1 draw.

 

The story of the game against Max Allegri’s men was quite similar to the one against Maurizio Sarri’s side, as Miralem Pjanic and Paulo Dybala took full advantage of another poor start by the Rossoneri to go two up within 21 minutes. Carlos Bacca pulled one back in a much improved second-half display, but the visitors couldn’t get a much needed second despite playing the majority of the second 45 minutes with 10-men after Locatelli had been sent-off..

 

Udinese are currently 12th in the Serie A and their recent loss to Giovanni Martusciello’s Empoli, was their third defeat in a row, following ones against Roma and Inter. A Levan Mchedlidze strike late in the game was enough to seal the Zebrette’s fate at Stadio Carlo Castellani last weekend.

 

Frenchman Cyril Thereau leads Udinese’s goalscoring charts with eight goals, followed by Colombian star Duvan Zapata, who has got five. Udinese currently has the ninth best defence in Serie A and the 12th best attack; their position in mid-table is probably down to the fact that they’ve scored almost as many as they have conceded.

 

Milan’s solid defence has been a vital part of their renaissance this season. Their problem of making bad starts to games however, has cost the rossoneri vital points and is something they would like to improve upon. Milan has scored just six more goals than Udinese (31) and they certainly need to improve on this statistic. 

 

As far as injuries and suspensions are concerned, Davide Calabria will be a doubt for the trip to the Dacia Arena. Mattia de Sciglio and Riccardo Montolivo are both long-term absentees and are not expected to feature again this season for the Rossoneri.

 

Udinese virtually has a clean bill of health with only Silvan Widmer a doubt for the game, despite having recovered from a head injury that he suffered during the first game of 2017.

 

 

Udinese: Karnezis; Faraoni, Danilo, Felipe, Samir; Hallfredsson, Fofana, Jankto; De Paul, Zapata, Thereau

 

AC Milan: Donnarumma; Abate, Paletta, Romagnoli, De Sciglio; Kucka, Locatelli, Pasalic, Suso, Bacca, Bonaventura

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Kaustubh Pandey