After their 2-2 thriller with Inter, Atalanta enter another Scudetto showdown with Milan, as both sides are struggling with injuries and scoring at will.
La Dea impressed in the Champions League midweek by beating Young Boys to top their group, but lost Robin Gosens for at least a month, possibly two, joining Hans Hateboer on the treatment table. Jose Luis Palomino might be back on the bench, but the big news is the return of Luis Muriel ahead of schedule.
The Rossoneri will be tired after playing for over an hour against Atletico Madrid down to 10 men following Franck Kessie’s dismissal, losing to a non-existent penalty that even VAR did not rescue them from. Alessandro Florenzi is out for a month following knee surgery, but Simon Kjaer is back in defence. Olivier Giroud is still probably not ready to start, so it’s Ante Rebic again.
Form Guide: Atalanta (D W W L D) Milan (W W D W W)
Stat fact: A win would allow Milan to equal their best Serie A start in the three points for a win era, as they had 19 points after seven rounds in 2003-04.
Probable line-ups
Atalanta (3-4-1-2): Musso; Toloi, Demiral, Djimsiti; Zappacosta, De Roon, Freuler, Maehle; Pessina; Malinovskyi, Duvan Zapata
Suspended: None
Injured: Gosens, Hateboer
On a yellow card: None
Milan (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Calabria, Kjaer, Tomori, Theo Hernandez; Tonali, Kessie; Saelemaekers, Brahim Diaz, Leao; Rebic
Suspended: None
Injured: Bakayoko, Ibrahimovic, Florenzi, Krunic, Plizzari
On a yellow card: None
Atalanta win for me. The high press is something we’ve struggled to cope with, and every team that causes us trouble seems to have that same tactic.
Exactly. I don’t know if we will win or lose but high pressing teams are the one thing we can’t really cope with yet. That has to change someday though eventually.