There has been a lot of talk about AC Milan being a team in crisis so far this season, and yet tonight they have the chance to go top of the table, for the time being at least.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport write this morning, Milan have already faced accusations this season of being a listless team, one in emergency, one that concedes too many goals and drops too many points, with Paulo Fonseca’s fate in the balance.
There is some truth to all of that, but this same Milan could spend Friday night at the top of the table. They have eight points and at 20:45 CEST they play at home against Lecce, meaning with a victory they could draw level with Torino on 11 points.
The flip side to that is that there is no middle ground and without a win the narrative would flip again after an impressive derby victory. Not only that, but there are 17 teams between five and 11 points in the table, so any team in there who doesn’t get a result are at risk of dropping.
Milan would return to first place after almost a year if they won and 343 days have passed since the last time they were top of the table. Milan had taken top spot on 7 October 2023 with that dramatic win in Genoa, then lost it on October 20 after a home defeat to Juventus.
After that gae, Milan experienced the terrible crisis of October: 0-1 at home against Juve, three goals conceded away against Paris Saint-Germain, a 2-2 away against Napoli after giving away a two-goal lead, and defeat at home against Udinese.
It is expected that Fonseca will keep 10 players the same from the XI that beat Inter, with Alvaro Morata out due to injury (but still getting a spot on the bench) and Ruben Loftus-Cheek coming in. There are 70,000 fans expected, hoping to cheer the team on to top spot.
