AC Milan welcome newly-promoted Cremonese to San Siro

Over the summer, AC Milan have gone back to more modern and progressive recruitment, but they have balanced that against the appointment of former Milan and Juventus boss Massimiliano Allegri, with his win at all costs mentality.

The Rossoneri brought in Luka Modric at the start of the summer but they have also managed to sign Samuele Ricci and Ardon Jashari, as well as Pervis Estupinan, to try and shake things up after a woeful campaign last season.

Cremonese preview: Back in Serie A

Cremonese gained promotion back to Serie A last season as Serie B runners’ up and they have immediately dispensed of promotion-winning coach Eugenio Corini to replace him with Serie A’s so-called ‘miracle worker’, Davide Nicola.

At Crotone, Salernitana, Empoli and Cagliari; Nicola has surpassed all expectations to keep teams up and now he has the job of doing so with Cremonese, who have brought in some intriguing, albeit generally underwhelming signings this summer.

AC Milan team news: Fully fit

Extremely surprisingly and probably quite rarely, Massimiliano Allegri have a fully fit and available squad for this one so they will be able to name their strongest eleven for this weekend.

Predicted XI (3-5-2): Maignan; Tomori, Gabbia, Pavlovic; Saelemaekers, Fofana, Ricci, Loftus-Cheek, Pervis Estupinan; Pulisic, Leao.

Cremonese team news: A few suspensions

Cremonese are dealing with a few suspensions on the opening day of this season as midfielder Tommaso Barbieri is sidelined alongside both Mattia Valoti and Franco Vazquez.

Predicted XI (3-5-2): Audero; Terracciano, Baschirotto, Bianchetti; Zerbin, Collocolo, Grassi, Vandeputte, Pezzella; De Luca, Bonazzoli.

Even in a clash with Serie B opposition, Allegri still went with the tediously defensive 3-5-2 system with Christian Pulisic and Rafael Leao up-front together.

They eventually eased past Bari by two goals to nil in the first round of the Coppa Italia. Cremonese, on the other hand, suffered a surprise penalty shootout loss at home to Palermo after a goalless draw. It may not be pretty but Milan should edge past their fellow Lombardians this weekend.