PREDICTED LINE-UPS | Spezia v Milan

After losing ground in the race to secure a Champions League final berth for this season, Milan will hope to concentrate on getting a top-four finish to do some justice to their season when they face Spezia away from home today. 

Milan couldn’t get their paces together in their last match as goals from Edin Dzeko and Henrikh Mkhitaryan helped neighbourhood rivals Inter strengthen their grip in the semi-final tie. It will be a long ninety minutes in the second leg of the semi-finals as the Rossoneri will have to keep the Nerazzurri from scoring while netting two from their own to level the tie. Following draws with Roma and Cremonese in the league, Stefano Pioli’s side lost their 4th-place position in the standings to Inter who are in much-inspired form. The visitors today will hope to secure a win so as to stay in form for their upcoming Milan derby while applying pressure upon Inter who currently stay in 4th-place. 

Meanwhile, Spezia are in a possibility to get relegated as they haven’t been able to muster a single win in their last nine games in the league. Currently sitting in 18th place, the Aquilotti are three points from safety but will have to come up big during their last few games to achieve survival as a loss could be heavily capitalised by 17th place Verona who are in a contrasting form from their relegation-threatened counterparts. Spezia’s last win came against Inter and they will hope to inflict another defeat upon a visiting Milanese side today evening.

Here are the predicted line-ups according to Sky Italia:

Spezia (4-3-3): Dragowski; Amian, Ampadu, Wisniewski, Nikolaou; Ekdal, Bourabia, Esposito; Gyasi, Nzola, Verde.

Milan (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Calabria, Kalulu, Kjaer, Hernandez; Vranckx, Pobega; Saelemaekers, De Ketelaere, Rebic; Origi.

Trambak Bhattacherjee | GIFN