Arsenal-Milan is a friendly and will be played on Tuesday at 15:00: news, stats, live TV, likely line-ups, predictions
Emiratian tour for Stefano Pioli’s AC Milan. The Diavolo are in Dubai, not too far from the dazzling lights of the Qatari World Cup, which has now reached the semi-finals. The Dubai Super Cup is a kind of strange quadrangular, in which two English football bigwigs, Arsenal and Liverpool, and a Ligue 1 club, Lyon, also take part. Each team only plays two matches, and the Rossoneri will challenge first Mikel Arteta’s Gunners and then Jurgen Klopp’s Reds a few days apart. A win is worth three points, a draw two, and in addition one point will be awarded to the team that prevails on penalties: shots from the penalty spot are practically obligatory, regardless of the result.
For Pioli’s men, this will be their first outing exactly one month since their last league match against Fiorentina in Italy: AC Milan came out on top in the second half thanks to an unfortunate own goal from Milenkovic. The objective, more than the result, is obviously to recover the right form and not be found unprepared in view of 4 January.
On that date, Serie A will start again and the reigning Italian champions will have to face Salernitana in a tough away match at the Arechi. Milan are restarting from second place and are the only team who are somehow trying to keep up with Luciano Spalletti’s unstoppable Napoli (+8), although they are now breathing down the neck of Juventus, who are only two points behind. In Dubai, the first opponent will be Arsenal. Who, surprisingly, lead the Premier League standings, a full five points ahead of Manchester City. Arteta and his side will start ahead of AC Milan: on the traditional Boxing Day on 26 December they will face West Ham in a thrilling London derby.
Experimental formations on both sides, with Pioli having to do without Theo Hernandez and Giroud, who are engaged with France in Qatar, and Leao, who has just been eliminated with Portugal.
Arteta
The Prediction
Arsenal, despite numerous absences, got off to a strong start in the Dubai Super Cup, overwhelming Lyon 3-0 (then beaten on penalties). The Gunners are slight favourites also because they are further along in their preparations than the Rossoneri, having to take the field in a fortnight’ time. It is likely, however, that there will be no shortage of goals: there should be at least three in total in the Al-Maktoum Stadium challenge.
Arsenal-Milan matchday squad
- ARSENAL (4-2-3-1): Hein; Cedric, Holding, Gabriel, Tierney; Elneny, Lokonga; Fabio Vieira, Odegaard, Nelson; Nketiah.
- MILAN (4-2-3-1): Tatarusanu; Kalulu, Gabbia, Tomori, Pobega; Tonali, Vranckx; Saelemaekers, Adli, Rebic; Origi.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 3-2