In-form AC Milan will be aiming to consolidate their place in the top seven of Serie A when they welcome Bologna to San Siro on Saturday.
The Rossoneri have performed well since returning to action last month and are close to securing a European spot, while Bologna are winless in three and have little left to play for.
Match preview
Only Atalanta BC have been in better form than Milan since Serie A resumed three weeks ago, with Stefano Pioli's side winning five and drawing two of their six matches.
Those have not exactly been easy fixtures, either, having defeated top-two sides Juventus and Lazio in quick succession, as well as beating Roma and drawing with Napoli.
Pioli's men kept their good run going on Wednesday with a 3-1 comeback win over Parma at San Siro thanks to second-half goals from Franck Kessie, Alessio Romagnoli and Hakan Calhanoglu.
Milan had to ride their luck at times but that is now three home wins in a row and a place in the top seven now seems a formality, the Rossoneri holding a six-point lead on Sassuolo with five games to go.
However, one of those games happens to be against Sassuolo, who have themselves looked impressive of late, so Pioli will know the importance of staying on track with another victory this weekend.
© Reuters
Bologna head into the match on the back of successive draws over Parma and Napoli, with Musa Barrow netting late on to snatch a point in the latter of those fixtures.
The Rossoblu are exactly midway in the table, 10 points behind Milan in the final Europa League spot and 13 points above the relegation zone.
Anything less than victory on Saturday will kill off their slim European hopes, then, but Sinisa Mihajlovic will be pleased enough with his campaign regardless.
Bologna have a pretty decent away record, too, losing just two of their last nine matches, with victories over Roma, Napoli and Inter Milan during that run.
Milan have won three in a row at San Siro, though, and have won seven of their last eight meetings with Bologna, drawing the other.
AC Milan's Serie A form: WDWWDW
Bologna's Serie A form: WDWLDD
Team News
© Reuters
Lucas Paqueta pulled out of Milan's squad with a knee injury in midweek and is considered doubtful for this match.
Rafael Leao came into the side last time out, as did Giacomo Bonaventura and Lucas Biglia, and all three players performed well in the win over Parma.
Andrea Conti gave Milan an added threat when replacing Davide Calabria at the break and may start this one, while Ante Rebic is in line for a recall up top given the quick turnaround in games.
Andrea Poli and Federico Santander have been nursing injuries but were part of Bologna's squad against Napoli and may come into the starting XI for this one.
Roberto Soriano made a welcome return from suspension and is in line to start alongside Andreas Skov Olsen and Barrow once again.
Elsewhere, Riccardo Orsolini is pushing for a recall after being brought off the bench against Napoli.
AC Milan possible starting lineup:
Donnarumma; Conti, Kjaer, Romagnoli, Hernandez; Biglia, Kessie; Leao, Bonaventura, Calhanoglu; Rebic
Bologna possible starting lineup:
Skorupski; Mbaye, Danilo, Tomiyasu, Krejci; Medel, Dominguez; Olsen, Soriano, Barrow; Palacio
We say: AC Milan 2-1 Bologna
Milan have stepped up a gear since the restart and Pioli's job now appears to be safe. The hosts will be eager to keep building momentum with victory and, despite Bologna's impressive results away at big clubs, we are backing them to prevail this weekend.
Daniel Lewis
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a AC Milan win with a probability of 50.27%. A win for Bologna had a probability of 26.41% and a draw had a probability of 23.3%.
The most likely scoreline for an AC Milan win was 2-1 with a probability of 9.61%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (8.83%) and 2-0 (7.84%). The likeliest Bologna win was 1-2 (6.64%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (10.82%). The actual scoreline of 5-1 was predicted with a 0.9% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that AC Milan would win this match.
