Milan will hope to move one step closer to securing third place and Champions League football next season when they take on bottom placed Pescara. The Rossoneri were boosted by their victory over Torino Sunday, while Fiorentina went down to Roma the day before. They are now four points clear of Fiorentina who travel to struggling Siena midweek.

Milan come off the back of two consecutive victories and will look to secure another three points ahead of their tough clash against Roma on Sunday.

“The match against Pescara will be fundamental. Winning there and maintaining our lead on Roma and Fiorentina would be great”, said vice-president Adriano Galliani.

They will however, be without the services of the suspended Kevin-Prince Boateng and the injured Ricardo Montolivo . Nigel De Jong and Bojan Kricic also remain sidelined while Massimo Ambrosini will face a late fitness test. Massimiliano Allegri is expected to field the same midfield trio of Mathieu Flamini, Sulley Muntari and Antonio Nocerino who struggled to assert themselves against Torino. The absence of Montolivo has proved a headache for the Rossoneri as they rely heavily on his creativity and industry.

Milan will once again look to Mario Balotelli who has nine goals from ten league games since his arrival in January. The absence of Boateng means Giampaolo Pazzini could be handed a starting line-up birth as well which would result in Balotelli playing wide in Allegri’s 4-3-3 formation.

Pescara enter the match after a 4-1 loss to Genoa on the weekend officially relegated them from Serie A. They have won only one game in 2013 when they beat Fiorentina 2-0 back in January. Pescara also went down 4-1 to Milan in the reverse fixture back in December 2012 in a game which included two own goals.

Christian Bucchi’s side could be boosted by defender Per Kroldrup’s return from injury but are still missing several key players. Vladimir Weiss, Gaetano D’Agostino, Francesco Modesto, Juan Quintero and Gianluca Caprari all remain sidelined through injury.

Pescara have recorded only four home victories this season and have the worst home record in Serie A. With nothing but pride to play for, they will face a tough assignment against Milan who will be desperate for victory as they look to secure Champions League football.

On paper this should be an easy assignment for the Rossoneri but they will require a vastly improved performance from the uninspiring 1-0 victory over Torino in the last round of fixtures.