Italy are expected to give Jorginho and Manolo Gabbiadini rare competitive starts in the decisive World Cup play-off against Sweden.
The Azzurri lost the first leg 1-0 in Solna on Friday due to a deflected Jakob Johansson strike and the place in Russia will be assigned on Monday.
The second leg kicks off at Milan’s San Siro at 19.45 GMT.
With Marco Verratti suspended, Simone Zaza and Leonardo Spinazzola injured, Coach Giampiero Ventura is leaving Danilo D’Ambrosio in the stands.
Italy are expected to give Jorginho and Manolo Gabbiadini rare competitive starts in the decisive World Cup play-off against Sweden.
The Azzurri lost the first leg 1-0 in Solna on Friday due to a deflected Jakob Johansson strike and the place in Russia will be assigned on Monday.
The second leg kicks off at Milan’s San Siro at 19.45 GMT.
With Marco Verratti suspended, Simone Zaza and Leonardo Spinazzola injured, Coach Giampiero Ventura is leaving Danilo D’Ambrosio in the stands.
He is expected to use the 3-5-2 system again, but the changes are from the midfield up, with Jorginho and Alessandro Florenzi coming in for Verratti and not fully fit Daniele De Rossi.
Ciro Immobile should retain his place in attack, but be partnered by Gabbiadini.
It’s a surprise, as this would be the first competitive start for Jorginho and only the second for Gabbiadini after Malta in September 2015.
In fact, both have been largely ignored since Ventura took over from Antonio Conte in August 2016.
Gabbiadini was given four appearances in the Ventura era for a grand total of 35 minutes of football as a substitute against Uruguay, Liechtenstein, Spain and Albania.
Jorginho broke Serie A records for number of passes and passing accuracy in the Napoli jersey, taking them to the top of the table, but has been completely frozen out by Ventura.
The Brazil-born 25-year-old has only ever made two appearances for Italy and both were in friendlies, coming off the bench for stoppages against Spain in March 2016 and for 23 minutes in Scotland in May 2016.
Not only has Jorginho not featured for the Azzurri since then, he wasn’t even called up to the squad, yet is now flung into the starting XI in a 3-5-2 system he is not familiar with.
Florenzi has only recently recovered from a double anterior cruciate ligament injury that kept him out of action for almost a year from October 2016 to August 2017.
The Roma man’s last appearance for Italy was in the 1-1 World Cup qualifying draw with Spain in October 2016.
Although he is often used as a right-back or a right-sided winger at club level, it seems Ventura will use Florenzi in central midfield to the left of Jorginho.
As for Sweden, Mikael Lustig was suspended for the first leg and returns to the starting XI at right-back, while Albin Ekdal is out following a groin injury and replaced by Johansson.
Italy (3-5-2): 1 Buffon; 15 Barzagli, 19 Bonucci, 3 Chiellini; 6 Candreva, 18 Parolo, 7 Jorginho, 8 Florenzi, 4 Darmian; 11 Immobile, 23 Gabbiadini
Italy bench: 12 Donnarumma, 14 Perin, 2 Rugani, 13 Astori, 21 Zappacosta, 5 Gagliardini, 16 De Rossi, 20 Bernardeschi, 10 Insigne, 9 Belotti, 17 Eder, 22 El Shaarawy
Sweden (4-4-2): 1 Olsen; 2 Lustig, 3 Lindelof, 4 Granqvist, 6 Augustinsson; 17 Claesson, 7 Larsson, 13 Johansson, 10 Forsberg; 20 Toivonen, 9 Berg
Sweden bench: 12 Johnsson, 23 Nordfeldt, 16 Krafth, 5 Olsson, 11 Guidetti, 14 Helander, 15 Svensson, 18 Jansson, 19 Rohden, 21 Thelin, 22 Sema
Ref: Lahoz (SPA)