Serie A table-toppers AC Milan take on Napoli on Sunday night (kick-off 20:45) aiming for their first victory in 11 games over Gennaro Gattuso’s men.
PROBABLE LINE-UPS
Napoli (4-3-3): Meret; Di Lorenzo, Manolas, Koulibaly, Mario Rui; Fabian Ruiz, Bakayoko, Zielinski; Lozano, Mertens, Insigne.
Unavailable: Osimhen, Ospina, Hysaj.
Milan (4-2-3-1): Donnarumma; Calabria, Kjaer, Romagnoli, Hernandez; Bennacer, Kessie; Castillejo, Calhanoglu, Rebic; Ibrahimovic.
Unavailable: Saelemaekers, Musacchio, Leao.
KEY STATISTICS
– Napoli are unbeaten in their last 11 encounters against AC Milan in Serie A (W6 D5): the last side to stay unbeaten vs the Rossoneri in the top flight for 12+ games was also Napoli between 1974 and 1979.
– AC Milan have won just one of their 14 Serie A games away from home against Napoli in the 21st century (D6 L7), in October 2010 with goals scored by Robinho and Zlatan Ibrahimovi? for the Rossoneri and Ezequiel Lavezzi for Napoli.
– Napoli have lost their last two home games in all competitions, against AZ and Sassuolo, and could lose three in a row at home for the first time since December 2012 under Walter Mazzarri.
– AC Milan are unbeaten in their last 14 games away from home in all competitions (W9 D5): the last time the Rossoneri enjoyed a longest run was in February 2004 under Carlo Ancelotti (15 matches).
– AC Milan have scored more goals than any other side in Serie A this season from inside the box (16), but Napoli have conceded the fewest from inside in the competition (four goals).
– Napoli (19) and AC Milan (17.1) are the two sides with the most shots attempted on average per game in Serie A this season – Napoli have posted the highest average in the top five European leagues in 2020/21, whilst the Rossoneri are fourth behind Lyon (18) and Leipzig (17.7).
– Only Spezia (seven goals) have conceded more than AC Milan from set-pieces (six goals) in Serie A this season; overall, AC Milan have conceded 17 goals from dead ball situations in 38 Serie A games under Stefano Pioli, as many as they had in 62 matches under Gattuso.
– Gattuso made four appearances as a player in Serie A against sides coached by Stefano Pioli and always won, including the first game lost by the current AC Milan boss in the competition back in September 2006 (2-0 for AC Milan with goals scored by Clarence Seedorf and Kaká).
o If he scores against AC Milan, Lorenzo Insigne will overtake Diego Maradona (currently both six goals) equaling Vinicio and Antonio Vojak (both seven goals) and becoming one of the top three Napoli players with the most goals against the Rossoneri in Serie A.
o Ibrahimovic has scored in each of his first five Serie A games this season: in the three points per win era, only three players have managed to find the net in their first six appearances in a single campaign (Gabriel Batistuta in 1994/95, Christian Vieri in 2002/03 and Krzysztof Piatek in 2018/19).
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Source: forzaitalianfootball.com