Milan vs Fiorentina Preview

November 10, 2012 By Gregory Sica

Eleventh-placed Milan will be pressured to claim maximum points when they welcome high-flying Fiorentina to the San Siro on Sunday.

Milan will be hoping to continue to escalate in the Serie A when they take on Fiorentina in what promises to be an action-packed encounter.

After a highly-disappointing start to their campaign, the Rossoneri have since picked up their game and are unbeaten in their last four games in all competitions, including a 5-1 victory over Chievo in their latest Serie A game.

Milan, who count with the league's leading scorer in Stephan El Shaarawy, understand that if they want to fight for the title along with the likes of Juventus, Inter Milan and Napoli this season they will have to continue to obtain positive results, but they will have to be extremely cautious against an in-form Fiorentina.

Fiorentina come into the clash with high hopes following a massive 4-1 thumping of Genoa last Sunday, and the Viola will definitely rate their chances of returning home with at least a point from their visit to the San Siro.

The last time Fiorentina played Milan at the venue they came from behind for a 2-1 win courtesy of goals from Stevan Jovetic and Amauri.

Milan boss Massmiliano Allegri, whose side were held to a frustrating 1-1 home draw by Malaga in a midweek Champions League group game, will be unable to count with the services of a number of players including Ignazio Abate, Sulley Muntari, Djamel Mesbah, Didac Vila, Rodney Strasser and Luca Antonini.

But the coach has still managed to assemble a considerably strong side, where Brazilian striker Alexandre Pato will play as the lone striker, with fellow young attackers El Shaarawy and Bojan Krkic playing slightly deeper roles.

Meanwhile, Fiorentina coach Vincenzo Montella is unlikely to count with the presence of star striker Jovetic. The Montenegrin sustained an injury in the 4-1 defeat of Cagliari and is in serious doubt of missing out on the match.

Despite his absence, Fiorentina, who are currently in fourth-place of the table with 21 points, only seven points behind league leaders Juventus, are still likely to cause Milan enormous problems on Sunday.