Milan vs Sampdoria: Can Rossoneri get Scudetto challenge back on track?

Topics: TV Schedules, AC Milan, Sampdoria, Serie A

Milan will hope to try to narrow the six point gap between themselves and city rivals Inter as they host Sampdoria on Saturday afternoon.

Preview: Milan vs Sampdoria

As things stand, AC Milan find themselves six points behind cross-town rivals Inter as both teams battle to win what would be their first Scudetto in over a decade. It's a disappointing turn of events for the Rossoneri, who headed into the Christmas hiatus as winter champions, but a downturn of form, coupled with the Nerazzurri continuing to post positive results, has seen Antonio Conte's men surge ahead while Stefano Pioli's side are now the ones playing catch up.

Although Milan did do well to beat Pioli's former team Fiorentina in a five-goal thriller prior to the latest international break, the Diavolo had lost back to back games in the Europa League and Serie A prior to that, meaning that the Scudetto remains the only trophy that they could possibly win this season.

Prior to January 3, 2021, Milan were still unbeaten in the league. By February 28th, they had already lost four matches, with one of them being a rather embarrassing 2-0 reversal to debutant side Spezia prior to their heavy 3-0 defeat to Inter in the Derby della Madonnina. To complicate matters, Inter still do have a game in hand, so the six point disadvantage Milan find themselves in could actually be as much as nine if the Nerazzurri had been able to play all their matches before the recent international hiatus. Fortunately, though, Pioli has started to recover all his key players, as both Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Hakan Calhanoglu, who have struggled with injuries recently, were able to feature and were also on the score-sheet against Fiorentina.

Milan's poor home form is another source of concern. In Serie A, the Rossoneri have won six, drawn four and lost four at the Stadio San Siro. By contrast, their away record is quite impressive, with just one loss so far (W12 D1). The loss to Manchester United meant the Diavolo have lost five of their last eight home games across all comps since the start of 2021 and they'll be hoping to avoid matching a rather unwanted record that they set back in 2013.

Fortunately for them, Milan have a strong track record against Sampdoria. The Diavolo have lost just one of their last seven clashes against Blucerchiati at the Stadio San Siro, and have won four of their last six meetings overall.

As for Sampdoria, they've won just one of their last five matches. Their win over Torino, which was hardly convincing, ended a five game winless streak for Claudio Ranieri's men. Nonetheless, the Blucerchiati, at this point, are merely looking to secure safety for the upcoming season, and they've more or less nearly gotten the 40 points that usually guarantees that objective with plenty of time between now and the rest of the season.

Team news: Milan vs Sampdoria

Milan: Forwards Rafael Leao and Mario Mandzukic, plus defenders Alessandro Romagnoli and Davide Calabria will be unavailable to Pioli due to injuries.

Sampdoria: Swedish international Albin Ekdal suffered a thigh injury while on international duty and looks likely to miss out here.

Match facts: Milan vs Sampdoria

Milan have lost just one of their last seven home meetings with Sampdoria
The Rossoneri have won four of their last six meetings with the Blucerchiati (D1 L1)