AC Milan will be looking to build on their excellent win over Lazio last time out when they welcome the champions and current league leaders Juventus to San Siro on Tuesday night.
The home side recorded an impressive 3-0 victory over second-placed Lazio at the weekend, which means that Juve are now seven points clear at the top of the table as they close in on yet another title.
Match preview
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Lazio would have been looking to keep on Juve's tails when they welcomed Milan to Rome on Saturday night, but the visitors had other ideas, picking up all three points courtesy of a 3-0 success, with veteran striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic on the scoresheet at Stadio Olimpico.
Milan have been in impressive form since the league's restart last month, beating Lecce, Roma and Lazio, although they were held to a 2-2 draw at struggling SPAL on July 1.
As it stands, Stefano Pioli's side are sixth in the table, just two points behind fifth-placed Roma, although both Roma and seventh-placed Napoli have a game in hand.
Milan finished fifth in Serie A last season, and it does appear that position is the best that they can hope for at this stage as the gap to fourth-placed Atalanta BC is currently 14 points.
The Red and Blacks will be feeling good about themselves after a superb win, but they have not beaten Juve in Italy's top flight since October 2016, losing the last six meetings between the two sides.
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Juve, meanwhile, will enter Tuesday's match off the back of a 4-1 win over Torino on Saturday night, where Cristiano Ronaldo was once again on the scoresheet for his 29th goal of the season.
The 35-year-old has now netted 25 times in 26 Serie A appearances during the 2019-20 campaign, including four in the team's four matches since returning to league action last month.
Maurizio Sarri's side have won each of their last seven in Italy's top flight, and as mentioned, currently sit seven points clear of second-placed Lazio at the top of the table, which is a big advantage at this stage.
There is still a lot of football to be played between now and the end of the season, but it is difficult to imagine Juve dropping the points required to allow Lazio back into the race.
That said, all three of the Old Lady's league defeats this term have come on their travels, and there is no question that the champions are in for a tough assignment at San Siro.
AC Milan Serie A form: DLWWDW
AC Milan form (all competitions): LDWWDW
Juventus Serie A form: WWWWWW
Juventus form (all competitions): DLWWWW
Team News
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Milan will again be without the services of Samu Castillejo, Mateo Musacchio and Leo Duarte through injury, while there is a concern over Hakan Calhanoglu, who had to be replaced against Lazio.
Indeed, the 26-year-old was forced off in the first half with a knock to his calf, although it is thought that the attacker will be available to take to the field against the champions.
Ibrahimovic was handed at the start at the top end of the field at the weekend, but the Swede is expected to drop back to the bench for this match, with Ante Rebic taking the spot up front.
Lucas Paqueta should also return to the starting XI, but 21-year-old Belgian Alexis Saelemaekers could keep his spot following an excellent performance on Saturday night.
As for Juve, there is no change to their injury situation, with Mattia De Sciglio, Alex Sandro, Sami Khedira, Giorgio Chiellini and Merih Demiral all still on the sidelines.
However, Matthijs de Ligt and Paulo Dybala will also be absent through suspension, opening the door for Daniele Rugani and Gonzalo Higuain to start in central defence and up front respectively.
Veteran goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon made history against Torino on Saturday as he played his 648th game in Italy's top flight, overtaking the record previously held by legendary defender Paolo Maldini, but Wojciech Szczesny is expected to return between the sticks for this one.
AC Milan possible starting lineup:
Donnarumma; Conti, Kjaer, Romagnoli, Hernandez; Kessie, Bennacer; Saelemaekers, Paqueta, Calhanoglu; Rebic
Juventus possible starting lineup:
Szczesny; Cuadrado, Rugani, Bonucci, Danilo; Rabiot, Pjanic, Bentancur; Ronaldo, Higuain, Bernardeschi
We say: AC Milan 1-1 Juventus
Milan's recent form simply cannot be ignored, and we fancy the home side to pick up a share of the spoils on Tuesday night. A draw would not be the worst result for Juve under the circumstances, and we are expecting a very tight 90 minutes of football at San Siro.
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 Juventus win with a probability of 47.26%. A win for AC Milan had a probability of 27.68% and a draw had a probability of 25.1%.
The most likely scoreline for a Juventus win was 0-1 with a probability of 10.4%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (9.35%) and 0-2 (8.18%). The likeliest AC Milan win was 1-0 (7.56%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.89%). The actual scoreline of 4-2 was predicted with a 0.6% likelihood.
