(Football news) AC Milan face bottom side Salernitana, successive defeats had provided a serious setback for the Rossoneri before they swept aside Genoa on Wednesday while their southern counterparts fell to an 11th league defeat of the campaign. Their convincing win midweek sees Milan back ahead of their city rivals Inter in the table and they are currently just a point behind leaders Napoli following their slip up at Sassuolo. Rossoneri coach Stefano Pioli will hope that his side gets some confidence back as they are set to face crucial games against Liverpool and Napoli before the upcoming mid-winter break.
For Milan, they will be without their mainstay as centre-back Simon Kjaer suffered a knee injury and was forced off after only five minutes in Genoa. Davide Calabria, Ismael Bennacer and Ante Rebic are all struggling for fitness as they remain doubtful for the game, Olivier Giroud is currently hampered by a hamstring problem which could keep him out until 2022.
Inter Milan will look to continue their good form against Jose Mourinho’s AS Roma as they seek to close a nine-point gap between the two Serie A clubs. Inter's dreams for a back-to-back Scudetto are moving closer to reality as momentum builds towards the end of the first half of the season. They are just a point behind city rivals Milan and two adrift of leaders Napoli, the Nerazzurri sealed an eighth victory in 10 matches against lowly Spezia. On the other hand Roma were looking for their third straight victory against Bologna but came up short as it ended in a sixth league loss of the campaign, which was the club's 12th away defeat in 2021, their worst ever tally in a calendar-year showing since 1950. For Inter, Matteo Darmian and defender Andrea Ranocchia both suffered thigh injuries last week and are expected to be out ,while Stefan de Vrij also remains absent due to a hamstring problem.
Serie A leaders Napoli face in-form Atalanta as they hope to maintain their slender one point lead over AC Milan. Since being beaten by Spezia at the start of 2021, Napoli have managed 14 wins and four draws in their league fixtures at the Maradona Stadium, including six victories with an aggregate of two goals per match so far this season. Spalletti will be concerned about their defensive record, having previously kept the back line firmly locked throughout their unbeaten start to the 2021-22 campaign. Napoli have managed just a single clean sheet from their last six matches in all competitions and now will face one of Europe's top-scoring sides.
For Napoli, their defensive mainstay Kalidou Koulibaly has been ruled out until 2022 with a hamstring injury while both Lorenzo Insigne and Fabian Ruiz may be a doubt as they picked up minor injuries in the same game. For Atalanta, except for Robin Gosens, everyone else is fit as Hans Hateboer finally made it back into the team but faces stiff competition from Joakim Maehle for a start in the wing back role.
Juventus face relegation threatened Genoa as they are looking for consecutive victories. Juve got a much needed victory against Salernitana midweek as Allegri's side moved to 24 points only one point off AS Roma in fifth. For Juve, Weston McKennie and Mattia De Sciglio should be available for Sunday’s home fixture against Genoa as the coach was left with a depleted squad in the midweek due to the absence of several first team players and he had to make up for it by calling up the likes of Matias Soulé and Koni De Winter from the U23 squad,
The other fixtures are:
- Bologna vs Fiorentina
- Venezia vs Verona
- Spezia vs Sassuolo
- Sampdoria vs Lazio
- Empoli vs Udinese
- Cagliari vs Torino
