AC Milan vs Udinese

Seeking a way out of a mini-crisis, AC Milan entertain out-of-sorts Udinese at the Stadio San Siro in a must-win Serie A fixture.

Milan thought they were on the verge of turning their fortunes around after back-to-back defeats ‘to nil’ when Olivier Giroud fired them 2-0 at halftime against Napoli last weekend, only for the reigning champions to eke out a 2-2 draw at full-time. With the pressure building on manager Stefano Pioli despite ‘I Rossoneri’ trailing top-placed Inter Milan by only three points ahead of the kick-off, extending a six-game unbeaten H2H home league run against Udinese (W3, D3), preferably with a win, is imperative for the experienced coach. Though they lost 1-0 to Juventus in their last Serie A outing at the San Siro, Milan can draw confidence from going unbeaten in 12 consecutive home league matches beforehand (W9, D3), including victories in their first three such fixtures this season.

On the other hand, after a humiliating nine-game winless Serie A start (D6, L3), Udinese sacked underperforming manager Andrea Sottil and brought back Gabriele Cioffi to fill the vacancy. But the latter’s return to Udine has failed to reinvigorate the struggling ‘Friulians’ as they barely held Monza to a 1-1 draw on his touchline debut before losing 2-1 to Cagliari in midweek Coppa Italia action after extra time. As one of only seven sides in Europe’s top-five leagues yet to win this season, the visitors wouldn’t mind sharing the spoils at the San Siro, which would see them live up to their tag as ‘stalemate specialists.’ Udinese’s record of seven draws from the first ten Serie A rounds is second to none in Europe’s top divisions, with four of their five away league games this term ending level (L1).