Both sides enter this thriller on the back of wins earlier this week and will be high on confidence, but Atalanta who desperately need the points to keep alive Serie A’s title race.
Serie A 2019/2020
Date: Friday July 24
Kick-off: 20:45
Venue: Stadio Giuseppe Meazza
Atalanta are on a 17-game unbeaten run ahead of the trip to Milan, and the Scudetto hopefuls will be confident of upstaging AC Milan who have equally established themselves as one of the teams to beat in the division.
Luis Muriel came off the bench to secure all three points for I Nerazurri with his effort last time out in Bergamo, his 18th goal of the season thus handing Gian Piero Gasperini’s side their 22nd league win of what has been a successful season.
And even more remarkable is their penchance for goalscoring. With three matches left to the end of the season, Atalanta who remain on the neck of Juventus (six points shy) are five goals short of reaching 100 in Serie A, although just two strikes have come in their most recent games against Hellas Verona and last time versus Bologna.
For Milan, a brace of goals from veteran striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic was enough to hand them a 2-1 victory over Sassuolo, a win which left them just a solitary point from 60 for the season.
The victory however, came at a cost as several players hobbled off with injuries, so Stefano Pioli will have one too many enforced changes to make here. Missing his regular back four is not ideal against a free-scoring Atalanta side, and it still remains to be seen how a makeshift defence contains the effervescence of the likes of Muriel and Duvan Zapata.
With Udinese having stunned Juve on Thursday, can Atalanta capitalise and pile more pressure on the league leaders with an important result here?
Team news
Milan
Ismael Bennacer is suspended for AC Milan ahead of the reception of Atalanta.
The trio of Alessio Romagnoli, Theo Hernandez and Andrea Conti are now all sidelined.
Samu Castillejo, Mateo Musacchio, Léo Duarte and Lucas Paquetá are also unavailable for selection for the hosts.
Atalanta
Timothy Castagne is ruled out of this game due to suspension for Atalanta.
Head to Head
In 51 competitive meetings between these two sides in history, Milan have accrued 26 wins to Atalanta’s 12. 13 meetings had been drawn.
Team form
Milan’s last five competitive games: WDWWW
Atalanta’s last five competitive games: WDWDW
Betting tips
Everything points to this encounter being one of the most entertaining tussles since the resumption of Serie A. With Atalanta needing a win, expect them to go all out for the three points, but Milan will surely not go down without a fight.
Milan are depleted, and up against an entertaining Atalanta, one will expect the goals to flow. Thus, we’re backing goals to emerge from this encouter, and over 3.5 goals is prized for 11/10, a wise punt to pick for this clash.
