Stefano Pioli's AC Milan are currently sitting at the top of the league table with 55 points after 25 matches played. The rivals, Inter, who are coached by Simone Inzaghi have so far collected 54 points with one game still to be played. The race at the top is very close without forgetting Napoli who have 53 points in third place.
Now, the Rossoneri are aware that they must get as many points as possible. There is not much room for error anymore. The next fixture for the red and black faithful is against Salernitana at the Arechi stadium. The club is sitting at the end of the table with 13 points.
The last victory for Salernitana was on January 9 against Hellas Verona 2-1. In the last three games played, they drew twice (against Genoa 1-1 and Spezia 2-2) and lost the other against Napoli 4-1.
There is a new boss for Salernitana who is Davide Nicola. He was brought in to try and steady the ship and escape the relegation zone which is a difficult mission.
Stefano Pioli, in yesterday's press conference, has admitted that it will be a tough encounter for his AC Milan side because it will be hard to predict how the other side will play with a new coach. Those are his words: "Tomorrow there will be more unknowns given the change of the Salernitana coach. We have been thinking above all of us this week. We know the characteristics of their players, it is a different team than the first leg, so it will be a match to be faced with attention and concentration."
Key players for Salernitana:
Certainly, the top player for Salernitana is without doubt Franck Ribery, former super star of bayern Munich and Marseille. The French forward is 38 years old and is definitely not near an ideal form. However, he still has important touches, dribbles and moments of flair and brilliance that, if executed in the right moments, can make life difficult for the Milanese defenders.
Another player to watch out for should be Milan Djuric, 31-year-old Bosnian centre-forward who stands at almost 2 metres tall. He can be used as a dangerous weapon in crosses and the defenders will have to be very attentive in aerial plays.
AC Milan's key players:
There are always many players in Stefano Pioli's disposal who can make the difference, no matter the game. Currently, there are two top stars who can really add a lot of firepower to the attacking plays. We are talking about Rafael Leao and full-back Theo Hernandez.
The Portuguese winger will be using his dribbling skills and speed to get into the box and find one on one situations while relying on Theo Hernandez' support who likes to go forward to overlap in hopes of finding space, assisting his teammates or scoring a goal for himself.
Olivier Giroud will be trying to score for the first time since his arrival to Milan in a stadium other than the San Siro. He is a capable striker who likes to be fed high balls into the penalty box or near it with his back to the defenders.
In midfield, Sandro Tonali must continue his hot form. His physicality, speed and vision will be a huge boost to Pioli's plans going into tonight's fixture. Next to the Italian midfielder, however, it seems that Ismael Bennacer will be the starter. As for Franck Kessié, he will be sitting on the bench.
As for the lineups, this is the expected one of Salernitana:
4-4-2: Sepe; Mazzocchi, Dragusin, Fazio, Ranieri; Kastanos, Coulibaly, Radovanovic, Ribery; Bonazzoli, Djuric
The visitors, AC Milan, should be taking the field with this lineup:
4-2-3-1: Maignan; Calabria, Tomori, Romagnoli, Theo Hernandez; Tonali, Bennacer; Messias, Brahim, Leao; Giroud
