A win over Cesena in their recent fixture has moved AC Milan into the top half of the table in what has been a difficult season and even worse 2015 for the Rossoneri. A six point gap separates them from the fifth-placed Fiorentina who occupy a Europa League spot, but at this point, given their inconsistent form the team's weary fan base are probably just looking at it one game at a time. Historically, the odds are staggeringly in favour of the visitors, who have won 19 times versus Chievo's two in their past 25 meetings, with four ending as a stalemate.
However, on the eve of their 26th meeting, it is interesting to note that the Flying Donkeys' duo of wins have come at the Stadio Marc'Antonio Bentegodi, with their last victory, a 2-1 result happening during the 2005/2006 Serie A campaign. The most recent meeting between these two sides ended as an ugly 0-0 draw in which each team finished with 10 men after Riccardo Montolivo and Sergio Pellissier were given their marching orders during the second half.
Under Rolando Maran, who took over from Eugenio Corini in October 2014 the hosts have earned 24 points from their equivalent number of matches played. This sees them in 16th place, but with only four dividing them from 18th-placed Cagliari, and given that they are still smarting from a heavy loss to Empoli, they will be keen on trying to stage an upset against a Milan side that has looked quite unsteady all season.
Pippo Inzaghi, who recently had to refute suggestions of strife within his squad, namely with new addition Alessio Cerci, will have both Philippe Mexes and Diego Lopez after the duo have served out their respective bans. The former striker will still have to contend with a whole host of injuries to several defenders and attackers, including Mattia De Sciglio, Ignazio Abate, Cristian Zapata, Adil Rami, and Stephan El Shaarawy.
Nonetheless, he was quite clear in outling his squad's objectives in his customary pre-match press conference:
"[Rolando] Maran is a great coach, and Chievo has a lot of drive. It's very obvious for us to keep improving our standings that it is important for us to win. We are coming here with the intent to claim all three points, and with all respect to our opponents, who played a great match against Sampdoria two weeks ago, we are in the perfect condition to earn a victory."
Meanwhile, his tactical opponent has warned his men not to be fooled by Milan's poor form and to take their opponents seriously, advising:
"Milan are a great team with good players, and it is important for us to re-capture some of that spirit we gave up against Empoli. I watched them against Cesena [last weekend] and they overall appear to be a balanced side with lots of quality. So, we must be careful not to judge them based on their spot in the table."
Match details, result and original broadcast info
This match has ended. Below are the original Live broadcast details for this match.
Live TV coverage and streaming in United States
Live TV coverage and streaming in United States
Follow the game on-the-go
Download our iOS and Android apps to follow soccer on-the-go. It comes packed with features - live scores, fixtures, results, tables, line-ups, stats, TV schedule and much more! Sorry, no live streaming within the app.
