AC Milan will look to return to winning ways in yet another Saturday fixture in Serie A, this time against Frosinone at the Stadio Benito Stirpe.
Milan are left with a bitter taste in their mouth after the last game at home against Bologna, in which they took a 2-1 lead in the last 10 minutes through Ruben Loftus-Cheek before an added-time penalty for the visitors saw two points slip away.
Stefano Pioli stressed the importance of a response in his pre-match press conference, even if catching the teams above will be hard and there is a large gap to fifth place.
Game date: Saturday, February 1
Kick-off time: 18:00 (CET)
Venue: Stadio Benito Stirpe
Referee: Luca Pairetto (VAR: Mariani)
Team news
Milan will be without long-term absentees Tommaso Pobega and Pierre Kalulu as they continue their recoveries from surgery, while Fikayo Tomori and Malick Thiaw will not return either.
Mattia Caldara and Samuel Chukwueze will miss the game – the former due to injury, the latter due to being at the African Cup of Nations – which means a total of six absences for the game.
The good news is that Ismael Bennacer has returned to training with the rest of the squad ahead of the game having recovered from an adductor problem he sustained at AFCON.
In terms of the starting line-up, Mike Maignan will obviously be in goal with an unchanged defensive line of Davide Calabria, Simon Kjaer, Matteo Gabbia and Theo Hernandez.
The deeper-lying midfield duo of Yacine Adli and Tijjani Reijnders are expected to keep their place, with Ruben Loftus-Cheek playing a bit further forward as the attacking midfielder..
Christian Pulisic is down as the right winger, with Rafael Leao on the left side and Olivier Giroud leading the line.
Luka Jovic, Noah Okafor, Yunus Musah and Ismael Bennacer are listed among the substitutes who could come on during the game.
Probable Milan XI (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Calabria, Kjaer, Gabbia, Hernandez; Reijnders, Adli; Pulisic, Loftus-Cheek, Leao; Giroud.
The opponents
Frosinone were tipped as promotion favourites in Serie B last season and they certainly delivered, finishing top of the league with 24 wins in 38 games and on 80 points – 15 points above Bari in third.
The step up is always tough, and they lost Daniel Boloca to Sassuolo for €10m as well as Matteo Ricci to Sampdoria for €1.25m, meaning there was a need to strengthen.
Abdou Harroui and Riccardo Marchizza came from Sassuolo for a combined €4m, Simone Romagnoli arrived from Lecce and Gennaro Borelli from Pescara.
Emanuele Valeri, Mehdi Bourabia, Michele Cerofolini and Marvin Cuni came on free transfers, while Marco Brescianini landed from Milan and Caleb Okoli on loan from Atalanta.
In terms of the selection issues for Eusebio Di Francesco to deal with, Kalaj and Marchizza will definitely miss the game, as will Ibraimovic, Oyono, Lirola and Lusuardi.
The list of absentees doesn’t end there, with Baez, Zortea, Cuni and Bonifazi expected to also not be available, with the latter a game day decision.
The front three is expected to be Harroui, Kaio Jorge and Soule, with Gelli, Barrenechea and Mazzitelli the midfield trio in front of Monterisi, Okoli, Romagnoli and Brescianini in defence.
Probable Frosinone XI (4-3-3): Turati; Monterisi, Okoli, Romagnoli, Brescianini; Gelli, Barrenechea, Mazzitelli; Soule, Jorge, Harroui.
Head to head
Milan have only played Frosinone five times in their history across all competitions and they have never lost to them, with three wins and two draws.
The first meeting between the clubs was back in December 2015 and the Rossoneri won 4-2 at the Stirpe with Ignazio Abate, Carlos Bacca, Alex and Giacomo Bonaventura all netting. The reverse fixture was a 3-3 thriller.
The most recent fixture was of course the one at San Siro this season and it was only in December. Jovic, Pulisic and Tomori scored in a 3-1 home win.
Match facts…
➤ Milan are unbeaten against Frosinone in Serie A (W3 D2), only facing Pisa (12), Crotone and Lecco (both six) more often in the top-flight without ever losing.
➤ Milan have scored twice as many goals as Frosinone in five matches against the Ciociari in the top-flight: 12 v 6.
➤ After five defeats in a row, Frosinone haven’t lost in their last two league matches (W1 D1), the Ciociari could register a longer streak without defeat in Serie A for the first time since the period between August and September 2023 (five in that case).
➤ Frosinone have picked up 20 points from their 11 home league games this season; as many as in their previous two Serie A campaigns combined at this stage (19 – 14 in 2015/16 and five in 2018/19).
➤ Frosinone have scored 29 goals in 22 league matches this season, as many as they netted in the entirety of their previous Serie A campaign (29 goals in 38 MDs in 2018/19) – indeed, only in 2015/16 (35) have the Ciociari scored more goals in a single Serie A season.
➤ Milan have won their last two away league games, the Rossoneri could win three away matches in a row in a single Serie A season for the first time since the period between September and October 2022 (against Sampdoria, Empoli and Hellas Verona in that case).
➤ This game will see the team that has scored the most first half goals in Serie A this season (Milan, 24) take on the side that has conceded the most goals in the opening 45 minutes this term (Frosinone, 20).
➤ Milan and Frosinone are two of the four teams that have scored the most goals from corners in Serie A this season: both six, level with Juventus and Atalanta.
➤ Matías Soulé (nine goals in the current league season) could become the first player to score at least 10 goals in a single Serie A season for Frosinone (nine also for Daniel Ciofani and Federico Dionisi, both in 2015/16).
➤ Ruben Loftus-Cheek has scored five goals in Serie A this season, only in 2018/19 has he netted more in a league campaign (six goals for Chelsea). The Englishman has scored in his last two league appearances, the last Milan midfielder to score in three Serie A games in a row was Franck Kessié in July 2020, while excluding penalties, Mathieu Flamini in April 2013 was the last midfielder to do so for the club.
Ones to watch
It goes without saying that Leao is under immense pressure to end his goal drought which stretches back to September, while Giroud will want to make up for his penalty miss last weekend.
Loftus-Cheek has four goals in four games and is in red hot form as a result, while Bennacer’s potential return to the starting line-up would be good to see and Theo will also look to avenge a missed spot kick.
There is no doubting who the stand-out player has been for Frosinone this season: 20-year-old Juventus loanee Matias Soule. He has nine goals playing mostly on the wing, plus an assist.
Monterisi, Marchizza and Harroui each have four goal contributions. It is Turati in goal plus Simone Romagnoli and Okoli at centre-back who have formed the heart of the rearguard.
Prediction
Predicting Milan to keep a clean sheet feels like a bold call at the moment, and we don’t think one will come on Saturday evening. However, Pioli’s men should have the quality to bounce back and claim all three points.
Frosinone 1-3 Milan
Damn – somehow we’ll have to make do without Tommaso Pobega….
,,Wahrscheinliche Lecce XI” spielen wir nicht gegen frosinone?