Stefano Pioli’s Milan will be expecting to start 2024 in winning fashion as they travel down to Tuscany to face an Empoli side in freefall.
The match between the Azzurri and the Rossoneri kicks off at 11.30 UK time at the Stadio Carlo Castellani in Empoli.
Milan cannot afford to lose pace to league leaders Inter and need to secure all three points in Tuscany as they look to maintain their slim Scudetto bid, sitting 12 points behind their intercity rivals following the Nerazzurri’s 2-1 win over Hellas Verona on Saturday afternoon.
Empoli need to put any points on the board as they look to climb out of the relegation zone, sitting two points behind 17th place Cagliari. The Tuscan side have a long list of injuries, heavily reducing Aurelio Andreazzoli’s options.
The Rossoneri are still without Marco Sportiello, Malick Thiaw, Fikayo Tomori, Pierre Kalulu, Tommaso Pobega and Noah Okafor, whilst their Tuscan opponents cannot count on Simone Bastoni, Viktor Kovalenko, Bartosz Bersezynski, Jacopo Fazzini, Giuseppe Pezzella, Gabriele Guarino and Liberato Cacace.
Starting line-ups for Empoli vs Milan
Empoli (4-3-1-2): Caprile; Ebuehi, Walukiewicz, Luperto, Ismajili; Baldanzi, Grassi, Maleh; Gyasi, Cambiaghi; Caputo.
Milan (4-3-3): Maignan; Calabria, Kjaer, Theo, Florenzi; Loftus-Cheek, Adli, Reijnders; Pulisic, Giroud, Leao.