AS Monaco go into Saturday's away meeting with Lorient looking to keep up the pressure on league leaders Paris Saint-Germain, who will have already played their weekend fixture on Friday night against Bordeaux.
Claudio Ranieri's side have been in good form of late, having bounced back from two poor results against Montpellier and Valenciennes with two straight Ligue 1 wins.
The Southern French side will also have one eye on the chasing pack, with Lille doing their best to keep within touching distance in third place.
The club's main focus will be on ensuring all three points, though, as they will host PSG in their following league fixture next weekend, meaning that a win at Lorient will leave Monaco's Ligue 1 fate well within their own hands.
Valere Germain and Emmanuel Riviere provided the goals against Marseille in their last fixture to silence the club's doubters following Radamel Falcao's injury, with this weekend's fixture providing further opportunity to prove that Monaco are not merely a one-man team.
The hosts have important matters at hand too, with 10th-placed Lorient looking to stave off competition from Toulouse who trail by only three points in 11th and also have a game in hand.
Lorient's chances of victory may depend on the performance of leading scorer Vincent Aboubakar, who has bagged 11 goals in all competitions and contributed to his side's average of 1.32 goals per game.
Previous history does not look too kindly on Saturday's hosts, however, with Monaco running out winners in their last two Ligue 1 meetings in 2013 and 2011.
Recent form
Lorient: WWDLWD
AS Monaco: WWLDWW
Possible starting lineups
Lorient: Reynet; Gassama, Ecuele, Lautoa, Guerreiro, Jouffre, Bourillon, Traore, Monnet-Paquet, Aliadiere, Aboubakar
AS Monaco: Subasic; Raggi, Carvalho, Abidal, Kurzawa, Kondogbia, Toulalan, Moutinho, Rodriguez, Riviere, Germain
Sports Mole says: 1-2
Christopher Dodd
