AC Milan vs Chievo Preview: One Thing Left To Play For—the Scudetto

With Milan’s champions league campaign all but over, all efforts can now be directed towards trying to achieve something that the club has been unable to do since 2004, which is to win the Serie A.

Participating in both the Champions League and the Serie A was always going expose the one major weakness in this Milan side, being its lack of depth. It was only inevitable as injuries always occur at this time of the season.

If Milan are to really make a challenge for the Serie A this season, then it is probably best that Leo does not have to be concerned with anymore Champions League ties. For in reality, the current Milan squad does not have the capacity to mount a serious challenge on both fronts.

The dream of Milan winning the Serie A is very much alive still. Milan are currently in second position on the table, only four points behind Inter. In addition, Milan have a game in hand as only a couple of hours ago, Inter dropped all three points away to Catania.

If Milan can make the most of this blip by Inter, by beating Chievo on Sunday night, then just one point will separate Milan from leaders Inter.

It will also help Milan’s cause if Inter can prolong their Champions League campaign by progressing past Chelsea next week. If Inter can mount a serious challenge for the Champions League, then this will only detract from their focus on Serie A.

Indeed, even as a Milanisti, one does hope that Inter will mount a serious challenge for the Champions League for this will not only help Milan’s cause but also Italy’s. For Serie A finds itself in the unfortunate position of possibly losing a Champions League spot due to the lack of Italian success in Europe in recent years. It is for this reason that Inter need to be a success in Europe this year, along with Juventus for that matter.

Milan have a number of injury concerns which will make the task of beating the flying donkeys that much harder with Daniele Bonera out injured along with Pato and Antonini who have both failed to recover in time.

But the most problematic absentee due to injury is Alessandro Nesta. There is the real possibility that Nesta will be out for the rest of the season and this may well hamper Milan’s title hopes.

For the match against Chievo, with both Nesta and Bonera unavailable, it will most likely be Favalli that plays instead. For Milan, this is not good news for Favalli is nothing but a liability to the team.

Milan’s injury list provides for a number of concerns heading into the match against Chievo. Therefore it is essential that Leo at least gets his squad selection right.

By this, I refer to the need for Leo to scrap the idea of playing Huntelaar and Borriello up front and revert back to the tried and trusted 4-3-3 system. A system that has brought such good results to Milan ever since being implemented following the disastrous start to the campaign.

The experiment of playing Huntelaar and Borriello up front together with Ronaldinho has failed miserably. In the two last matches in which this system has been employed, Milan have scored no goals and have conceded four. Hardly an impressive show of results.

With Pato out and with Beckham not suited to playing as the right sided attacker, two options are remain. One is to play Mancini. A player who is seemingly past his best and has yet to impress for Milan. The second and more favourable option is to take the chance with our lastest young recruit, Dominic Adiyiah.

The young rising star of Ghana has yet to play for Milan but has immense potential and already is a very talented player. He is also a natural attacker, best suited for playing as either a second striker or wide attacker so he would fit seamlessly into the role of right sided attacker. Adiyiah needs to be given a chance at some point, and with options not readily available to Leo, it is high time that Leo takes a chance with youth.

Despite the numerous injury concerns and the squad selection dilemma’s Leo faces as a result, Milan should still have enough to get past Chievo. The Flying Donkeys are not a strong outfit this year and have lost three of their last five matches.

But it will be tough for Milan, that is for sure. However, Leo’s side will be bolstered by Inter’s loss which, if Milan can win, will make Milan’s title dreams very real.