Higuain and Dzeko to face off as Milan host Roma

Gonzalo Higuain and Edin Dzeko are set to the be the centre of attention as Roma travel to the San Siro to play Milan.

Friday’s Serie A offering sees Milan face Roma in what is the undoubted stand-out fixture of the matchweek in Italy.

This is only Milan’s second game of the season because of the postponement of their opening day fixture following the bridge collapse in Genoa, but they are yet to get off the mark having lost 3-2 at Napoli.

Roma, meanwhile, have played twice, drawing 3-3 with Atalanta having been 1-3 down with half an hour remaining. They also beat Torino 0-1 the week before.

Key battles

Gonzalo Higuain will be looking for his first Milan goal since signing from Juventus in the summer. He will be kept under the close eye of Federico Fazio and Kostas Manolas, who conceded three times to Atalanta on Monday night.

Former Liverpool players Suso and Fabio Borini occupy the wide roles either side of the Argentinean frontman, and will look to come inside and cause trouble as often as possible. Suso, in particular, can be a threat coming onto his left foot.

The midfield trio of Giacomo Bonaventura, Franck Kessie and Lucas Biglia will line up against three of Bryan Cristante, Danielle De Rossi, Javier Pastore, Ante Coric and Steven N’Zonzi in what will be a technical battle for supremacy.

On-loan Tiemoue Bakayoko is another option in the centre of the pitch for Milan, but after manager Gennaro Gattuso said he had “defects” and that he needed to “learn how to get the ball,” that appears unlikely. The French international came on as a sub with Milan 2-1 up against Napoli, before they conceded two late on and lost the game.

Alessio Romagnoli and Mateo Musacchio were the defensive pairing against Napoli and they are likely to feature again, with Mattia Caldara left on the bench.

They will have the difficult task of masking the threat of Edin Dzeko, who will be flanked by Lorenzo Pellegrini and Cengiz Under, with Stephan El Shaarawy and Patrik Schick options off the substitutes bench.

Whichever striker comes out on top in the game is likely to decide which way the points are heading, with Higuain and Dzeko both talismans for their teams.

Previous meetings

In both meetings last season, the away team won 2-0, with Dzeko and Alessandro Florenzi scoring for Roma in Milan and Patrick Cutrone and Davide Calabria scoring for Milan in Rome.

Prior to that, Roma had gone four matches against Milan without defeat, winning three times and drawing once, including a 4-1 win at the San Siro in May 2017.

Normally, the matches are fairly even, often with both teams scoring, with only two goalless draws in the past seven years between the sides.