Luca Antonelli feels the AC Milan players owe a victory against Torino on Saturday to everyone associated with the club.

Milan have endured an inconsistent start to the Serie A campaign, sitting 11th in the table with nine points from their opening seven games, and travel to the Stadio Olimpico following consecutive defeats to Genoa and Napoli.

Sinisa Mihajlovic's side may take confidence from the fact that they have not suffered a top-flight defeat to the Turin outfit since November 2001, winning nine and drawing six of the subsequent clashes.

However, Antonelli – who was part of the Italy squad that achieved qualification for Euro 2016 during the international break – acknowledges that Torino will still pose a tough challenge, with Milan victorious on just one of their past four visits.

"Torino are a difficult opponent, but we are Milan and we want to win," the defender told Milan Channel.

"[Giampiero] Ventura is an excellent coach and the Torino team is quality, but we know the difficulties on Saturday and are preparing to our maximum.

"We are always working to improve, but we want to produce a great performance.

"We owe it to ourselves, to the club, the coach and the fans. The important thing is Milan, not who we play."

Mario Balotelli has been continuing his recovery from a groin injury and will not appear, but Philippe Mexes (foot) and former Torino right-back Ignazio Abate (muscular) have returned to full training and are back in contention.

Torino have won all three of their home league matches this season and an impressive start has put them in fifth position.

They may be confident of securing a sixth straight home victory this weekend as only Carpi have conceded more goals than Milan's tally of 13 this term, while Mihajlovic's team have also failed to score in three of their four away fixtures.

Ventura remains without long-term absentees Alexander Farnerud (knee) and Nikola Maksimovic (foot), while there are also doubts over Marco Benassi.

Danilo Avelar (knee) and Bruno Peres (groin) are unlikely to feature despite returning to training, but Daniele Baselli could be in the squad once again following a knee injury.