Chievo vs. AC Milan: Team News, Predicted Line-Ups, Live Stream & TV Info
AC Milan finally got a dose of good news when they beat Cesena last week. On Saturday, the Rossoneri hope to build on that success when they travel to Verona to face a Chievo facing a fight to survive.
Date: Saturday, February 28
Time: 8:45 p.m. local time, 7:45 GMT, 2:45 EST
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Venue: Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi, Verona
TV Info: BT Sport 1 (UK), beIN Sports (US)
Live Stream: beIN Sports Connect (US)
Preamble
Filippo Inzaghi managed to get some valuable breathing space in the battle to keep his job on Sunday when Milan beat Cesena 2-0. It wasn't their best day—indeed, the 2-0 score was somewhat flattering. Rossoneri took 14 shots but only hit the target when they scored—and one of those goals was a penalty. Cesena found the target as many times and had six of their 10 total shots blocked.
It was a win, but it was nothing close to comprehensive. It needs to be improved on if the club hopes to finish the season with honor. Specifically, improvements need to be made in defense. Milan has only kept five clean sheets all year and the defensive reinforcements that arrived in the January transfer window are still working to mesh into an effective unit.
Finding that chemistry will be a daunting task, especially given the injuries in the back that barely leave the team with a healthy defensive line. At this point his only depth beyond his projected starting XI is the disgraced Philippe Mexes.
Inzaghi's squad selections have at times been mystifying this season. He has given far too much playing time to the likes of Daniele Bonera, Michael Essien and Sulley Muntari, at the expense of younger, promising players. Bonera played last week and will likely play again on Saturday due to injuries, but the others need to sit.
When he has played his best players, he has often deployed them out of position. Keisuke Honda, who has been deployed almost exclusively on the wing rather than as an attacking midfielder, his preferred place.
Inzaghi has begun to show a willingness to flex from his preferred 4-3-3 to conform to his players' strengths. He has run a 4-2-3-1 and a 4-3-1-2 in recent weeks. He now must find the right formation and the right mixture to make his team truly hum.
Chievo come into the game in a pickle. The Flying Donkeys were obliterated by Empoli last week. They had won the two previous contests, but they've still lost four of their last six and are now hovering only four points and two places above the relegation zone.
Milan is the better team, but they are unstable. On the odd occasion when Chievo has gotten a lead this season they've been good at holding on to it. They need to take full advantage of the Bentegodi's formidable atmosphere, snatch an early lead and keep it. With a game against Roma looming in the next round, this is an opportunity to snatch a point against a shaky favorite and bolster their chances of staying up.
Milan will get a boost with goalkeeper Diego Lopez coming back from a one-game suspension for the red card he received against Empoli. However, they will be without the injured Adil Rami and Gabriel Paletta is a serious doubt. Mattia De Sciglio, Ignazio Abate, Stephan El Shaarawy, Cristian Zaccardo and Cristian Zapata are all injured as well.
Chievo will be without the injured Nicolas Frey and the suspended Ruben Botta.
Form Lines
| Chievo | AC Milan |
| L 3-0 @ Empoli | W 2-0 vs. Cesena |
| W 2-1 vs. Sampdoria | D 1-1 @ Empoli |
| W 1-0 @ Parma | L 3-1 @ Juventus |
| L 2-1 vs. Napoli | W 3-1 vs. Parma |
| L 2-0 @ Juventus | L 1-0 vs. Lazio* |
*Coppa Italia
Predicted Formations
| Chievo (4-4-2) | Milan (4-2-3-1) |
| Bizzari | Diego Lopez |
| Zukanovic Gamberini Dainelli Schelotto | Bonera Bocchetti Alex Antonelli |
| Birsa Radovanovic Izco Hetemaj | De Jong Montolivo |
| Paloschi Pellissier | Menez Bonaventura Cerci |
| Destro |
Players to Watch
The acquisition of striker Mattia Destro could be a focal point in the future evolution of Milan.
Pippo Inzaghi started at Milan without an effective striker. The Fernando Torres experiment ended in early and total failure. With Giampaolo Pazzini unfavored, it meant that Inzaghi had to rely on Jeremy Menez as a false nine for much of the beginning of the season.
It wasn't an ideal situation. Menez scored 12 goals in that time, but half of them were penalties. It put much of the squad on the field out of balance, as players like Honda and Bonaventura started getting shoehorned into unfamiliar positions.
Destro's arrival has changed things. Inzaghi has begun experimenting with more formations now that he has a true No. 9 that he can trust to hold his own up front. The striker has played three times since coming over from Roma and in all three of those games Milan was deployed in a formation other than 4-3-3. Tellingly, in the one game he missed—the Juventus game, due to yellow-card accumulation—Inzaghi reverted back to the old formation.
Destro gives Inzaghi more confidence in the tip of his spear, which allows him to experiment behind him and gives him the opportunity to slot players into positions better suited for them to succeed.
On Chievo's side, the key man will be the one tasked to stop Inzaghi's new striker.
Dario Dainelli has been Chievo's best player this year. He's not a high-volume tackler—WhoScored.com credits him with only 1.6 per match this year—but the veteran excels as an off-the-ball defender. He has racked up 4.4 interceptions per match this year. He's also extremely disciplined—he only averages 1.3 fouls per match and has only been booked four times in 18 games this year.
On the balance of talent Chievo will have to expect to be defending more than they attack. They'll need Dainelli to seal off Destro from his midfield and limit the service that comes his way.
Key Battle
Daniele Bonera is almost certain to play on Saturday.
That sentence is enough to make Milan fans wince. The 33-year-old former Parma man has been sent off twice this season and has been directly responsible for a multitude of otherwise avoidable goals. Why he's started 10 games this year is a question that has yet to be suitably answered for most fans.
Unfortunately, given the team's injury situation, the only option other than putting him on the field Saturday is to slide Salvatore Bocchetti wide and start Philippe Mexes. The Frenchman hasn't played a game since January 24, when he attacked Lazio's Stefano Mauri. He was suspended for four games and has yet to get back into the squad since. Desperation might put him in the matchday squad, but the starting XI may still be beyond him.
Bonera is the obvious weakness in Milan's expected starting XI. If Chievo wants points, they will need to focus their attack directly at Bonera, wherever along the defensive line he might be.
This calls attention to Perparim Hetemaj—the likely player on the left side of Chievo's midfield—and Ezequiel Schelotto, who has been deputizing at left-back in Nicolas Frey's absence. Schelotto is a natural midfielder, and that attacking bent can be used as a weapon. If he can overlap well with Hetemaj and put himself in position to send in a good cross or lay the ball off, Diego Lopez could be put into an exposed position—and Chievo could steal the game.
Odds (according to Odds Shark)
Chievo win: 2/1
Milan win: 3/2
Draw: 227/100
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