Seeking to extend their unbeaten run to 10 games across all competitions, Serie A leaders AC Milan will travel to Sardinia to face Cagliari on Saturday night.
The hosts, meanwhile, are hovering just above the relegation zone and will be keen to avoid a third successive league defeat.
Match preview
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After accumulating nine points during an unbeaten run of five matches, Cagliari have since suffered back-to-back defeats without scoring against Lazio and Spezia.
The Islanders were condemned to their 14th Serie A loss of the season when second-half strikes from Martin Erlic and Rey Manaj secured a 2-0 win for Spezia last weekend.
Walter Mazzarri's men remain in 17th place, just three points above the relegation zone, with 18th-placed Venezia still to play their game in hand.
Cagliari's next fixture is a challenging contest against a Milan outfit who they have beaten only once in their last 36 league meetings, a 2-1 success back in May 2017.
The Islanders have also won only one of their last nine Serie A games on home soil, so they will need to be on top of their game if they are to have any chance of causing an upset this weekend.
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After a run of three successive draws, including a goalless stalemate against rivals Inter Milan in the first leg of their Coppa Italia semi-final, AC Milan have since claimed back-to-back 1-0 league victories against Napoli and Empoli.
The Rossoneri relied on an unlikely source to score the only goal of the game in last weekend's win against Empoli, with centre-back Pierre Kalulu curling a brilliant left-footed strike from the edge of the area into the bottom left corner in the 19th minute, just the second senior goal of his career.
Stefano Pioli's side could be knocked off their perch at the summit on goal difference before kicking a ball on Saturday, if Napoli – who are currently three points behind them in second – beat Udinese at home in the earlier kickoff.
Regardless of results around them, Milan will be confident of success against Cagliari, who they are unbeaten against in each of their last nine meetings, including a comfortable 4-1 victory at San Siro earlier this season.
The Rossoneri have, however, won only three of their last seven games against teams positioned in the bottom half of the table, so they cannot take the Islanders lightly this weekend.
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Team News
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Cagliari trio Nahitan Nandez, Kevin Strootman and Marko Rog all remain sidelined with knee injuries, while Sebastian Walukiewicz is ruled out with a hip problem.
Midfielder Razvan Marin is expected to return to the starting lineup at the expense of Daniele Baselli, while Joao Pedro – who has failed to score in each of his last five games against Milan – is set to remain in attack alongside Leonardo Pavoletti.
As for Milan, Theo Hernandez will return from his one-match suspension and is set to replace Alessandro Florenzi at left-back, joining Kalulu, Fikayo Tomori, and Davide Calabria in the back four.
Veteran strikers Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Olivier Giroud will continue to compete for the number nine role, with the latter set to get the nod this weekend after starting in each of the last three games.
Tiemoue Bakayoko is Milan's only injury concern, as he continues to recover from a muscle problem, so Sandro Tonali, Franck Kessie and Ismael Bennacer are all expected to continue in centre-midfield.
Cagliari possible starting lineup:
Cragno, Altare, Lovato, Goldaniga; Bellanova, Grassi, Marin, Deiola, Dalbert; Pavoletti, Pedro
AC Milan possible starting lineup:
Maignan; Calabria, Kalulu, Tomori, Hernandez; Bennacer, Tonali, Kessie; Messias, Giroud, Leao
We say: Cagliari 0-2 AC Milan
Cagliari will be desperate to claim all three points as they aim to steer themselves further away from the relegation zone.
However, we cannot see the hosts getting the better of Milan, who should have enough quality in their side to secure a routine victory on Saturday.
Top tip
Oliver Thomas
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a AC Milan win with a probability of 61.67%. A draw had a probability of 20.4% and a win for Cagliari had a probability of 17.91%.
The most likely scoreline for an AC Milan win was 1-2 with a probability of 9.93%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (9.57%) and 0-1 (9.14%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (9.48%), while for a Cagliari win it was 2-1 (4.91%). The actual scoreline of 0-1 was predicted with a 9.1% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that AC Milan would win this match.
