The international break is almost over and AC Milan will resume their Serie A campaign on Saturday night hoping to get their first win, with Paulo Fonseca having seemingly already decided on the team he will pick.
Calciomercato.com report that Alvaro Morata is not expected to start, which means that Tammy Abraham is. The Englishman is favoured over the Spaniard – who has just come back from injury – and the other options like Luka Jovic and Noah Okafor.
Theo Hernandez and Rafael Leao will start as well, with the Lazio incident now fully in the past to all involved. Fonseca hopes to have the left-sided duo firing on all cylinders again, and thankfully both did not play close to 180 minutes over the break for their respective countries.
There are two places up for grabs, starting with the right-back spot where Emerson Royal is favoured over Davide Calabria at present. The other doubt is who between Christian Pulisic and Samuel Chukwueze will play as the right winger, because of the travel involved for the former.
Fonseca is expected to tell the defence to play deeper and to take less risks, with Fikayo Tomori and Strahinja Pavlovic the undisputed starters. Matteo Gabbia is raring to go and could give one of the two a rest with Liverpool and Inter on the horizon.
The last doubt is related to the formation. To date, Milan are going forward with the 4-2-3-1 that Fonseca kept from last season, but the idea of switching to 4-3-3 is possible in the near future despite Ismael Bennacer’s injury reducing the players available in midfield. Kevin Zeroli and Silvano Vos could be promoted.
Predicted Milan XI (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Emerson Royal, Tomori, Pavlovic, Theo Hernandez; Fofana, Reijnders; Chukwueze, Loftus-Cheek, Leao; Abraham.
