AC Milan will look to continue their good form of late against a Chievo Verona side who are behind the Rossoneri only on goal difference. 

Both teams are level on 13 points in the Serie A table going into Monday's clash. Milan will certainly be more optimistic of getting a result against the home side as they have failed to beat the Rossoneri in their past 19 attempts, in Chievo's defence, they have managed to remain unbeaten in their past 11 matches at the Stadio Marc'Antonio Bentegodi and will hope to keep another clean sheet against Milan and also keep out the away sides' hotshot and the league's top scorer as of now, Carlos Bacca, who leads the Capocannoniere standings with six goals, tied with Gonzalo Higuain of Juventus.

Milan missing key players 

The Rossoneri have quite a few injury concerns on their hands at the moment with important first team players unavailable for the game, notably club captain Riccardo Montolivo who was injured while on international duty for the national team and will be on the sidelines probably for the next six months according to the clubs' statement on his condition.

The void left by him is most likely to be filled by the young feet of Manuel Locatelli , who scored a brilliant goal against Sassuolo in a seven goal thriller at the San Siro and will look forward to a starting role for the first time this season, after coming off the bench on several occasions and giving a decent account of himself.Juraj Kucka will look to support Locatelli in the defensive duties and Giacomo Bonaventura will look to be the link between midfield and Milan's attackers uptop.

In defence, the Rossoneri are still missing Colombian Cristian Zapata as he recovers from the injury he sustained during the Copa America, Gabriel Palletta is likely to keep his place in the starting eleven alongside Alessio Romagnoli. Ignazio Abate will be expected to take the captain's armband for the game in the absence of Montolivo, while Mattia De Sciglio should remain on the other side of the defence which has looked shaky in recent games but will gain some confidence from the history of cleansheets Milan have managed to record in this very game.

Valter Birsa will look to help create problems against former side

Slovenian international Valter Birsa has been in good form for Chievo so far and will look to make an impact against his former employers.Birsa has scored two goals and made three assists so far in the season and has certainly been the catalyst of Chievo's season up until this point.

The home side will look to rely on thier physical prowess and is more likely to sit back and hit Milan on the counter, take advantage of some good set-piece deliveries by Birsa.

Chievo have experienced heads in their team with Nicolas Spolli and Dario Dainelli at the back, and the expected midfield trio of Lucas Castro, Perparim Hetemaj and Ivan Radovanovic will look to prevent any threat posed by the talented Suso and the quick and strong M'Baye Niang who will be the partners in crime of Bacca up front for Milan.

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About the author
Ninad Barbadikar
Editor for the Brighton and Hove Albion Office. Contributor to VAVEL UK since July 2016.