Allegri preparing two Milan line-ups for Udinese and Lecce double-header

Milan face a Serie A and Coppa Italia double-header against Udinese and Lecce over the next week, and reports on Thursday suggest that Massimiliano Allegri is planning a series of rotations between the two competitions. 

Milan will go up against Udinese away from home on Saturday, before hosting Lecce in San Siro in the second round of the Coppa Italia on Tuesday night. This comes as a slight novelty for the Rossoneri, who are not involved in European competition this season, and therefore have a minimal number of midweek matches on their schedule this campaign. 

Milan team news: Where Maignan, Pavlovic and Leao stand ahead of double header

Allegri will have a few fitness and injury concerns to monitor ahead of his next two matches. 

Goalkeeper Mike Maignan was taken off injured with a calf strain during the 1-0 victory over Bologna last weekend, but has since begun training individually out on the pitch again, but is not expected to be fit in time to face Udinese on Saturday, which will likely mean an opportunity for Pietro Terracciano between the sticks. 

Strahinja Pavlovic is back and should be available to face Udinese according to the latest updates from La Gazzetta dello Sport. 

Rafael Leao, meanwhile, is not expected to feature this coming week, and is instead targeting a return for the Milan vs. Napoli clash on September 28. 

Which changes will Allegri make for Udinese and Lecce matches? 

According to recent reports, Allegri is likely to make several changes for the Lecce match in the Coppa Italia on Tuesday. 

For the Serie A match against Udinese on Saturday, however, he is expected to stick with a similar side to the one that beat Bologna 1-0 last time out. It remains to be seen whether Allegri will bring Christian Pulisic back into the starting line-up, or stick with his recently used midfield quartet of Youssouf Fofana, Luka Modric, Adrien Rabiot and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, playing behind Santiago Gimenez at centre-forward. 

For the Coppa Italia match on Tuesday, Allegri is likely to hand opportunities to the likes of Samuele Ricci in midfield, plus fellow new signings Zachary Athekame and Christopher Nkunku.