Serie A Lowdown: AC Milan

AC MILAN

League position: 1st
Form: W W W W -
Serie A top-scorer: Zlatan Ibrahimovic (4)
Last time out in Serie A: Inter Milan 1-2 AC Milan (Ibrahimovic (2))

Their season so far: Milan have made a perfect start to the new campaign and are the only side in Serie A to have won all four of their first four games.

That 100 per cent record has propelled Stefano Pioli’s men into top-spot, with the 2-1 Derby della Madonnina victory over city rivals Inter last weekend seeing the Rossoneri concede for the first time in the league this season.

Roma fans will remember Pioli well from a memorable derby of their own, with the former Lazio coach shown the door after Roma romped to a 4-1 Derby della Capitale victory in April 2016.

Four years on, a 3-1 win over Celtic in the Europa League finds Pioli in a much more buoyant mood in Milan and Hakan Calhanoglu could return from injury in time to make the 55-year-old’s squad on Monday, having missed the trip to Scotland.

The hosts will, however, be without injured trio Matteo Gabbia, Mateo Musacchio and Ante Rebic for Roma’s visit, with Pioli’s only expected change from the win over Inter likely to be the inclusion of Brahim Diaz in place of Calhanoglu if the Turkish midfielder isn’t fit enough to start.

That means Ibrahimovic should lead the Milan line once more and all eyes will be on how Roma’s back-three go about stopping the 39-year-old, who has five goals in four matches in all competitions so far; including a pair of Serie A braces in each of his two league appearances.

What they've said:

“Every game is important, we started well and we have to continue. We face a strong opponent who in their last six away matches have won five.

“[Roma] are an opponent who plays like Milan, has a coach who did well in his first year in Italy, they added strong young players like [Marash] Kumbulla and have signed an important player like Pedro.

“They are an ambitious team, but we are too; it will be an open match.” - Milan coach Pioli