Sampdoria vs AC Milan: H2H, Players To Watch and Prediction

Venue: Luigi Ferraris

Form

AC Milan: W, D, W, W, D

Sampdoria: W, W, W, L, L

Head to Head

3 Wins. 1 Draw. 1 Loss.

Milan 0 - 0 Sampdoria

Sampdoria 1 - 0 Milan

Sampdoria 0 - 2 Milan

Milan 3 - 2 Sampdoria

Milan 1 - 0 Sampdoria

Milan remain unbeaten in 10 games in the league heading into the game whilst Sampdoria have lost their last two. Milan can lock up 6th place with a victory and close the gap with AS Roma heading into the final match day. Sampdoria have conceded 2 goals in each of their last 3 games. Sampdoria will be missing key midfielder Martin Thorsby to a suspension whilst Milan will have Ismael Bennacer back thus the Rossoneri should focus on dominating the midfield.

Top 3 Match-Ups

Ibrahimovic vs Colley

Omar Colley will return for Sampdoria after his suspension in the previous game and will have a heavy task of managing Ibrahimovic. Zlatan will have to be strong to out muscle the Gambian centre back and to hold up the play to open spaces for Rebic and Saelemaekers. Colley and Yoshida are a good centre back pairing but Milan have the advantage of having Calhanoglu to break the lines and Ibrahimovic to draw out the defenders allowing Rebic to find pockets of space. Early goals will be important tonight to avoid a stale second half similar to the Atalanta game.

Kessie-Bennacer vs Ramirez/Bonazzoli

Kessie is reunited with his midfielder partner Bennacer after a shambolic display from Biglia last time out. The duo will have the important task of shutting down Gaston Ramirez or Federico Bonazzoli who have shared the trequartista role - a focal point of Claudio Ranieri’s attack. Both have been doing quite well since the restart connecting the play for their side and setting up the wide midfielder for late runs as they constantly swap. Kessie-Bennacer will also have to ensure they are not overrun by Ekdal and Linetty nor constantly playing clean up in the centre of the park.

Quagliarella vs Kjaer

Simon Kjaer will be critical in this game as Quagliarella and Gabbiadini will both be nuisances for us. Gabbia has shown his inexperience and his hesitance to make decisive tackles and clearances thus Kjaer will need to do the heavy lifting. Milan have conceded very cheap goals in the past few weeks and Donnarumma deserves a clean sheet to catch up with Musso.

Serie A Standings

Milan 6th 60 Points

Sampdoria 15th 41 Points

The difficulty with facing Sampdoria is that the goals can come from anywhere. Linetty and Ramirez are threats from the midfield. Quagliarella is clinical when given the opportunity whilst Gabbiadini has been potent off the bench. They have looked shaky at the back but Milan will start Gabbia again thus need to be very careful. In attack, Milan need to score early and then control the tempo of the game.

Prediction:

Sampdoria 0 - 2 Milan