The first fixture to be played in Serie A on Sunday the 13th of February takes place at San Siro as AC Milan welcome Sampdoria. The hosts begin the weekend in 3rd place on 52 points while the visitors are down in 16th place on 23 points.
AC Milan come into the match on the back of a tremendous 2-1 victory over Inter Milan in the derby last weekend. Not only was it a massive win in terms of the rivalry but it was also huge for the title race, as AC Milan are now just 1 point behind Inter Milan in Serie A.
Following that game, AC Milan played in the Coppa Italia quarter-final on Wednesday night and had little trouble overcoming Lazio at home. Olivier Giroud was once again the star as he scored 2 goals and AC Milan were 3-0 up after 45 minutes.
The victory over Lazio in the Coppa Italia means AC Milan have lost only 1 of their last 8 matches in all competitions.
They are undefeated in 5 of their last 6 Serie A games, beating Roma at home plus Empoli, Venezia, and Inter Milan away, although the latter was played at San Siro. Trends show there are no losses for AC Milan in 25 of their most recent 29 league games.
However, AC Milan have recorded just a single victory in their 4 most recent home Serie A matches and they were recently held to a 0-0 draw at home by Juventus.
Sampdoria make the trip to Milan having picked up an important 3 points thanks to a 4-0 home win over Sassuolo.
Having scored 2 goals in the opening 7 minutes of the match, Sampdoria took control and they added 2 more goals in the second half to record a comfortable win.
However, things have not been going well for Sampdoria in recent games and they have lost 5 of their last 6 in all competitions. The defeats have come at home against Cagliari and Torino plus away to Napoli, Juventus, and Spezia.
Away form in the league shows Sampdoria have won 1 of their last 5 on the road.
They have lost each of their last 2 away Serie A matches 1-0 at Napoli and Spezia. In Sampdoria's 3 most recent away Serie A matches, there have been under 2.5 goals scored.
Team news and AC Milan are without the suspended defender Theo Hernandez. Ante Rebic, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and Fodé Ballo are injured.
Sampdoria travel without suspended midfielder Albin Ekdal. Manolo Gabbiadini, Fabio Quagliarella, Maya Yoshida, and Mikkel Damsgaard are all on the treatment table.
AC Milan are firmly in the title race following the win over Inter and will not want to slip-up in this game.
Sampdoria will have gained confidence from their win over Sassuolo and have not been easy to beat in their 4 most recent away games. However, AC Milan should keep a clean sheet and 1 goal will be enough for victory.