It may still be early in the Serie A season but the next few games are important as ever for the Rossoneri. Nine points would be key, and allow the squad to stay high in the table and continue to push for CL spots, as well as the scudetto. I feel that seven points is the absolute minimum for the next three fixtures and without that the scudetto will most likely fall out of reach. The bottom line is the team needs points to continue to strive for the top four of the table.
Empoli is a young side with plenty talent, they had a great campaign last year and will not be a pushover even though the game is at the San Siro. Milan will need to take the dominant performance against Lazio, which seems so long ago, and build on it. I wish the games had not been so far apart for momentums sake, but as long as Gila remembers what he did that weekend the game should go well.
Brazilians Status:
R99 will not be available this weekend, but most likely next. It seems that his status has been that way for the past three weeks. Maybe Gila will continue his streak and Ronaldo will be unnecessary this weekend. Kaka will most likely not start but will probably be available for Carletto as a sub, should the need arise. Kaka had a strong international break and though it would be nice to keep him hot, he does need to be fresh for the CL games as well. Dida has trained and will play on Sunday, his appeal is still going through UEFA, but I do not forsee it being overturned. Milan’s appeal may be more or less an effort to get Celtic more severely punished. I am favor of the Dida ban as are many others in the in soccer world.
Drogba:
Didier Drogba has apologized for his outburst and has again pledged his love to Chelsea. One has to believe that Roman Abramovich is not going to continue to accept this waffling and as long as Sheva is getting games, Drogba will most likely not be all that happy. I still expect a move for the Ivorian move in January and I hope the Rossoneri are smart enough to make it happen.
Projected Lineup:
Your guess is as good as mine at this point. I really hope to see Gourcuff get the nod this weekend. I do expect a few of the international guys getting a break but it is hard to tell, I know Carletto wants a good result so he may be inclined to play a stronger a lineup. If Brocchi and Emerson are in the starting eleven it will be hard to accept anything more than tie, but then again that’s why we play the games.