Preview: Le Havre vs. Lorient - prediction, team news, lineups

Newly-promoted Le Havre will attempt to claim their first win of the season when they welcome Lorient to Stade Oceane for Sunday's Ligue 1 encounter.

In contrast to their hosts, Lorient have made an encouraging start to the 2023-24 campaign, collecting five points from their opening three matches.

Match preview

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Le Havre, who are competing in their first Ligue 1 campaign since 2008-09, are still searching for their first win of the season after mustering two points from their opening three games.

After playing out a 2-2 draw with Brest in their season opener, they were beaten by Brest in their first home game of the new campaign.

Luka Elsner's side looked set to fall to another defeat when Rennes surged into a two-goal lead inside the opening 24 minutes, but Le Havre demonstrated the fighting qualities required in a relegation battle to mount a second-half comeback thanks to a Nabil Alioui brace.

While the Le Havre boss may be pleased with the character shown by his side in last weekend's fixture, he will be concerned by the fact that his team have shipped two goals in each of their opening three games.

They will be looking to rediscover their defensive resilience from last term when they conceded just 19 goals from 38 games to help clinch their Ligue 2 title.

Meanwhile, Lorient are hoping to build upon last season's 10th-placed finish, and the early signs are promising for Regis Le Bris and his troops.

After holding champions Paris Saint-Germain to a goalless draw at the Parc des Princes, Lorient added another point to their tally when they played out a 1-1 draw with Nice in their second league outing.

Those two results laid the foundations for Lorient to clinch their first win of the season with a commanding performance over Lille last weekend.

Laurent Abergel and Julien Ponceau found the net to give Lorient a two-goal advantage inside 10 minutes, and while Jonathan David managed to halve the deficit, Romain Faivre and Vincent Le Goff grabbed a goal apiece to wrap up a 4-1 victory.

They are now preparing to face Le Havre in a competitive game for the first time since October 2019, and they will certainly take confidence from the fact that they have avoided defeat in their last four head-to-head meetings (W2, L2).

Team News

Le Havre remain without the services of midfielder Oussama Targhalline and forward Josue Casimir due to injury issues.

Samuel Grandsit is suspended following his red card against Rennes, which could open the door for Issa Soumare to return to the lineup.

After opening his account for the season with a brace against Rennes, Alioui will continue to lead the line for Le Havre.

As for the visitors, their absentee list includes Bamba Dieng, Benjamin Mendy, Igor Silva, Aiyegun Tosin, Quentin Boisgard and Ayman Kari.

After cruising to a 4-1 victory over Lille last weekend, Lorient boss Le Bris is expected to name an unchanged lineup.

Tiemoue Bakayoko, who has joined on a free transfer following his Chelsea departure, is lacking match fitness and is unlikely to feature on Sunday.

Le Havre possible starting lineup:

Desmas; Salmier, Sangante, Lloris, Operi; Toure, Kechta; Nego, Kuzyaev, Soumare; Alioui

Lorient possible starting lineup:

Mvogo; F. Mendy, Laporte, Talbi; Kalulu, Abergel, Ponceau, Le Goff; Faivre; Doucoure, Pagis

We say: Le Havre 1-2 Lorient

Le Havre will be hoping to record their first win of the season, but we think that they will be edged out by a confident Lorient side who would have been buoyed by last weekend's 4-1 win over Lille.

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