By Tommy Lund
(Reuters) – Defending champions AC Milan will hope to rekindle a season that has swerved spectacularly off course when they host Torino in Serie A on Friday, knowing they could suffer a fifth defeat in a row in all competitions for the first time in 93 years.
The year has started terribly for Milan, who are without a win in their last seven matches and have conceded 13 goals in their last four losses, with the pressure building on coach Stefano Pioli, who knows changes need to be made.
“This is not throwing away all the work we’ve achieved, it is realising there are moments when you need to take a different approach to get back to being competitive,” he said after the 1-0 loss to derby rivals Inter last weekend.
“The negative games took away some of our belief, which is natural, because this team is still not that mature. Several players are not in good condition and we struggled to deal with that.”
Milan have struggled with Torino recently, with Ivan Juric’s side knocking them out of the Coppa Italia in January and winning 2-1 at home in Serie A back in October.
The battle for Champions League spots has heated up following Milan’s collapse and Juventus’s 15-point deduction.
Lazio and Atalanta, who are fourth and fifth respectively, will meet in Rome on Saturday.
Lazio will hope that striker Ciro Immobile rediscovers his goalscoring form having failed find the net in his last four Serie A appearances.
AS Roma are third and coach Jose Mourinho will look to preserve his perfect Serie A record against Lecce on Saturday, having beaten them three times.
Second-placed Inter Milan face a trip to second-bottom Sampdoria on Monday.
Napoli are starting to dream about ending their 33-year wait to win the Serie A title and much of their success this season can be attributed to Victor Osimhen who has netted seven goals in his last five league appearances.
The Nigerian striker is the top scorer in Europe’s big five European leagues in 2023 with seven goals, scoring a goal every 72 minutes.
The league leaders have won their last eight home matches in Serie A and will host bottom club Cremonese, who are yet to win a league match this season, on Sunday.
Juventus, who are looking to rebuild after their points deduction and some recent poor form, secured a solid 3-0 win at Salernitana on Tuesday.
However their injury crisis took another turn for the worse after midfielder Fabio Miretti was carried off on a stretcher in the first half.
Italian media reports said the 19-year-old would be out of action for up to three weeks, missing several key matches.
Juve boss Massimiliano Allegri played down his side’s ambitions for the season before their home match against Fiorentina on Sunday.
“I look at the reality of the situation. We amassed 41 points, but we’ve got only 26, so to reach 40 and safety we need another 14, then we’ll see where we are,” he said.
“Now we’re level with Monza, the objective is to get into the top half of the table.”
(Reporting by Tommy Lund in Gdansk; Editing by Toby Davis)
