Angers will be looking to recover from their crushing defeat to Montpellier when they welcome Brest to the Stade Raymond Kopa for Sunday's Ligue 1 clash.
In contrast, Brest will endeavour to win their third top-flight game on the bounce following victories over Dijon and Lorient in their last two matches.
Match preview
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Having enjoyed two victories from their opening three matches of the new campaign, Angers were certainly given a reality check when they faced off against an in-form Montpellier side in gameweek four.
Stephane Moulin's men were trounced 4-1 by the hosts after Stephane Bahoken had initially levelled the scores in the first half, but Andy Delort's double soon paved the way for a comfortable victory for Montpellier last Sunday.
Two wins and two losses is what many could have expected from Angers at this very early stage of the season, and should Les Scoistes manage to keep a similar run of form going throughout the campaign, Moulin can feel confident about his side's chances of survival once again.
Of course, the Angers faithful would love to see their side push for a top-half finish this season, and a victory here would do wonders for their confidence before Moulin's side lock horns with champions Paris Saint-Germain in the first weekend of October.
Les Scoistes are now preparing for their third top-flight game of the season at the Stade Raymond Kopa, where they fell to Bordeaux before prevailing against Reims in their last outing on home turf.
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Meanwhile, Brest have turned their fortunes around after two defeats from their first two in the 2020-21 campaign and most recently enjoyed a thrilling 3-2 victory over newly-promoted Lorient.
Steve Mounie, Franck Honorat and Romain Perraud were all on target for Brest against last season's Ligue 2 champions, and Olivier Dall'Oglio's side currently occupy a spot in the top half heading into gameweek five.
However, even though Brest can be encouraged by their recent triumphs over Dijon and Lorient, these are two sides who have both lost at least three of their opening four fixtures, so Dall'Oglio's men must still exercise caution when facing an Angers team whom they are level on points with at this stage.
Brest triumphed in this tie 1-0 last season, but Angers avenged that defeat in the corresponding fixture as they prevailed by the same scoreline back in February.
Angers Ligue 1 form: WLWL
Brest Ligue 1 form: LLWW
Team News
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Moulin opted for a three-at-the-back system against Montpellier but will likely revert to a back four here, meaning that Rayan Ait Nouri could be in line for a start having come off the bench last time out.
Romain Thomas sat out the loss to Montpellier owing to a suspension, but the defender has since suffered a broken hand in training and will play no part against his former club.
As for Brest, Denys Bain remains out with a cruciate ligament rupture, but Dall'Oglio otherwise has a clean bill of health for the showdown with Angers.
Romain Philippoteaux has recently made the switch to Brest from Nimes and is in contention to make his debut here, while Honorat will be hoping that his goal against Lorient has done him enough to earn him a spot in the first XI.
Ronael Pierre-Gabriel was forced to miss out the win over Lorient but could come back to replace Julien Faussurier on the right-hand side of defence here.
Angers possible starting lineup:
Bernardoni; Nouri, Traore, Pavlovic, Ebosse; Mangani, Coulibaly; Thioub, Fulgini, Capelle; Bahoken
Brest possible starting lineup:
Larsonneur; Gabriel, Herelle, Duverne, Perraud; Diallo, Belkebla; Honorat, Charbonnier, Philippoteaux; Mounie
We say: Angers 1-1 Brest
With Angers and Brest currently neck-and-neck in the standings and enduring similar spells of early-season form, we are struggling to pick a winner for this one. Brest will feel confident of picking up a third successive win but Angers have a point to prove following their humbling defeat to Montpellier, so we expect this one to end all square.
Top betting tip
Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting a home win in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Home Win:curl
Ben Knapton
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Angers win with a probability of 41.1%. A win for Brest had a probability of 30.75% and a draw had a probability of 28.2%.
The most likely scoreline for an Angers win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.56%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.26%) and 2-0 (7.89%). The likeliest Brest win was 0-1 (10.46%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.14%). The actual scoreline of 3-2 was predicted with a 1.8% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Angers would win this match.
