Paulo Fonseca explains he dropped Theo Hernandez and Rafael Leao ‘for the good of the team’ and insists it is ‘not punishment’ for these Milan stars against Lazio.
It kicks off at the Stadio Olimpico at 19.45 UK time (18.45 GMT).
You can follow all the build-up and action from today’s four Serie A games on the LIVEBLOG.
Following bitter criticism over a dismal start to the campaign, scraping a last-gasp 2-2 draw with Torino and losing away to newly-promoted Parma, the coach has decided to take bold action.
He has dropped Rafael Leao, Theo Hernandez and captain Davide Calabria to the bench, giving new signings Emerson Royal and Youssouf Fofana their first starts.
“People might see this as punishment, but that will never be the case. It is a choice for what we need,” Fonseca told DAZN.
“Theo is not physically fit, I spoke to them and they understood. I need to make choices for the good of the team. We must be a team, if we want to win.
“My choices are in function of the moment the players are going through, the team and what we need at this time.”
Fonseca takes big risk with Milan stars
Malick Thiaw, Alvaro Morata and Luka Jovic are on the treatment table, but Filippo Terracciano is something of a surprise at left-back.
“We know what we want to be as a team. As I said before, we all agree on what needs to be improved,” continued Fonseca.
“Today we want a good performance defensively too, which is the part we need to improve the most. We also worked tactically to make better decisions.”
Tammy Abraham arrived on loan from Roma and is on the bench at the Stadio Olimpico this evening.
“Normally, I don’t bring along players who only arrived the day before the game, but we are in a special situation. Luka Jovic is injured, Tammy as been training regularly at Roma. We’ll see if we need him or not, but he is ready to help the team.”