Inzaghi hopes Milan can push on if they beat Sampdoria on Sunday

By foxsports
Published

AC Milan will believe their season has taken a turn for the better if they beat Sampdoria at the San Siro on Sunday evening.

The Rossoneri head into this weekend's match on the back of two straight wins that have seen them climb to eighth in the standings.

Milan beat Cagliari 3-1 and followed that up with a 2-1 triumph at Palermo last weekend.

Filippo Inzaghi's men will look to clinch their third win on the trot, something they have failed to do all season.

"I hope we can repay the trust of our fans from here until the end," Inzaghi told Sky Italia. "For our fans, it's hard to accept that this team is not fighting for the scudetto but it has been a peculiar year.

"I believe that this club will soon return where we all expect it to be."

Milan have been plagued by injuries and are still without eight players recovering from knocks heading into Sunday's match.

The Rossoneri cannot afford to drop many points if they are to qualify for European football next season.

They are six adrift of Napoli, who hold the last European qualifying spot.

"We have to keep working," Inzaghi said. "We have won two consecutive games but we know that if we take a false step, we will be under fire.

"We have nine games left to play and the important thing is that we maintain this fighting spirit until the end.

"Against Samp, I expect a very hard test."

Samp dropped to fifth in the standings after last weekend's 2-0 defeat at Fiorentina.

They had gone into the contest with a seven-match unbeaten run.

Now the Genoa team is seven points behind Lazio, who hold the last Champions League qualifying spot and are just one point above Napoli.

"We need to look ahead and not behind," Samp coach Sinisa Mihajlovic said. "Even if we don't qualify for the Champions League, we can still play Europa League football next season.

"Our best victory will be not to have any regrets by the end of the season, regardless of where we finish in the standings."

Samp are without defender Vasco Regini, who must serve a one-match ban.