AC Milan face a huge test of their credentials in the race for the top four when they face off against Lazio at San Siro on Saturday afternoon.

After dropping points against Cremonese in midweek with a 1-1 draw, it is almost getting to a situation whereby Milan have to win every game in order to give themselves a chance at qualifying for the next edition of the Champions League, while balancing a semi-final against Inter in the current edition.

There will be no option but to field the best possible starting line-up for Pioli tomorrow against Lazio given how tight the top four race is, meaning that he is expected to change as many as eight players from Wednesday’s draw with the Grigiorossi.

In terms of injury news, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Tommaso Pobega are continuing to recover from respective calf and rib problems so they will miss out, but Fikayo Tomori is back training with the rest of the squad and will be available.

According to what is being reported by Sky among other sources, Pioli will stick with Mike Maignan in goal while Davide Calabria and Theo Hernandez should be the full-backs. Tomori should come back in at centre-back alongside Simon Kjaer, with Malick Thiaw dropping to the bench. Rade Krunic and Sandro Tonali are down as the midfield double pivot with Ismael Bennacer ahead of them as the attacking midfielder, forming a triangle of sorts to give balance in the middle of the field.

Finally, the attack should see Junior Messias get the nod on the right wing over Brahim Diaz with Rafael Leao on the opposite flank and Olivier Giroud coming back in to lead the line. There is another thing that Milan need to be careful of: Kjaer, Kalulu, Thiaw, Rebic and Pobega (who will not feature) are all one yellow card away from getting a one-game suspension.

The opponents

It has been a season of two halves for Lazio really, given that they spent most of the first half of the campaign outside of the top four spots but they have now been second for coming up to two months.

Sarri’s men have won eight of their last 11 games in Serie A which has seen them burst into the top four and stay there. That run included impressive wins against Napoli, Roma and Juventus, though they did lose to Inter at the end of April. According to the latest from Sky (via MilanNews), winger Mattia Zaccagni did not take part in either of the two training sessions that the Biancocelesti held on Friday in view of tomorrow Saturday’s match against Milan.

The former Hellas Verona man is struggling with a muscle strain, and will be replaced on the left wing by Pedro. Sarri is set to name his squad list shortly and then it will be understood whether Zaccagni will at least get on the bench. In addition to Zaccagni’s absence, Sarri will be without midfield duo Danilo Cataldi and Matias Vecino.