The most exciting fixture of Game Week 18 of the 2021/22 Serie A season comes up this Sunday when Napoli travel to San Siro to face title rivals AC Milan.
Venue: Stadio Giuseppe Meazza (San Siro) (Milan)
Key Statistics
AC Milan have won just one of their last five games at the San Siro in all competitions.
They have scored in all their home matches this season
The hosts have taken 19 points from a possible 24 at home this season. Only Inter Milan (20) have more at home in the top flight this season.
Napoli have the best defensive record in the league, having conceded 13 times so far. About 55% (7) of those goals were conceded away from home.
They have scored 34 times in the league this season. 17 of those goals have come on the road.
Napoli boss Luciano Spalletti is unbeaten in ten personal H2Hs with the opposite number Stefano Pioli (W7, D3).
Head to head
Both teams have played 31 matches so far. AC Milan won 8 direct matches. Napoli won 11 matches. 12 matches ended in a draw
Latest performances in all competitions
AC Milan: L-W-L-D-W
Napoli: D-L-W-W-L
AC Milan
AC Milan will look to get back to winning ways this Sunday when they welcome title rivals Napoli to the San Siro.
The hosts snatched a 1-1 draw against Udinese in their last outing thanks to a 92nd-minute goal by legendary striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic after Beto had put the hosts ahead in the 17th minute.
The result saw Milan concede their first spot to Inter Milan, who beat Cagliari 4-0 to go top of the table, one point ahead of AC Milan.
The draw was also the third time Stefano Pioli’s side dropped points in their last five games, highlighting the level of their recent struggles. Their struggle is even more pronounced at the San Siro, where they have won just once in the last five competitive games.
However, the Rossoneri have lost just two league games this season and will be expected to bounce back against struggling Napoli.
Meanwhile, Davide Calabria (calf), Olivier Giroud (muscle), Simon Kjaer (knee), Ante Rebic (knock) and Alessandro Plizzari (knee) are all expected to miss out on this tie. Portuguese striker Rafael Leao and Pietro Pellegri are also injury doubts, although they could still make the squad if they recover in time.
Possible AC Milan starting line-ups
Mike Maignan; Alessandro Florenzi, Alessio Romagnoli, Fikayo Tomori, Theo Hernandez; Ismael Bennacer, Tiemoue Bakayoko, Franck Kessie; Alexis Saelemaekers, Brahim Diaz; Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Injured: Davide Calabria, Olivier Giroud, Simon Kjaer, Ante Rebic and Alessandro Plizzari.
Doubtful: Rafael Leao, Pietro Pellegri
Suspended: None
Napoli
Napoli will look to arrest their woeful run of form when they travel to Milan this Sunday.
After starting the season so strongly, the visitors have been in a downward spiral since early November. Since that time, they have won just two games in eight tries, losing four in that period and drawing two.
In that period, they kept only one clean sheet and conceded at least two games in five of those games.
Their misery was compounded further in their latest outing as Empoli beat them 1-0. The loss extended their winless run in the league to three games (D1, L2) and opened up a four points gap between them and Inter Milan who currently sit top of the league.
Despite topping the table early this month, Spalletti’s men enter this tie sitting fourth on the table. Their top-four chances remain high as they currently have a six-point lead over Fiorentina who are in fifth. But they are in danger of dropping completely out of the title race if they do not arrest their slump soon.
Meanwhile, Victor Osimhen and Fabian Ruiz have returned to training and are expected to feature soon. But this match will come too soon for the duo while Kalidou Koulibaly (calf), Stanislav Lobotka (muscle) and Alessandro Zanoli (illness) remain on the sidelines.
Possible Napoli starting line-ups
David Ospina; Juan Jesus, Amir Rrahmani, Giovanni Di Lorenzo; Kelvin Malcuit, Stanislav Lobotka, Piotr Zielinski, Mario Rui; Hirving Lozano, Eljif Elmas, Dries Mertens.
Injured: Kalidou Koulibaly, Stanislav Lobotka and Alessandro Zanoli
Doubtful: Victor Osimhen and Fabian Ruiz
Prediction
AC Milan 2-2 Napoli
