Seventh meets eighth in Saturday evening's Ligue 1 showdown at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy, as Lille take on fellow European outsiders Lens.
The champions rescued a point in a 1-1 draw with Angers last time out, while Franck Haise witnessed his side teach Nice a footballing lesson in a 3-0 thumping.
Match preview
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Forget Jonathan David, Burak Yilmaz or Jonathan Bamba - when Lille needed a goal out of nothing against Angers last weekend, up stepped the relatively unknown Edon Zhegrova, who took the goal of the week award with a thunderous effort at the Stade Raymond Kopa.
Jocelyn Gourvennec's side had fallen behind just after the hour mark after Tiago Djalo turned into his own net, but Zhegrova came off the bench to score only his second-ever Ligue 1 goal in some style - cutting inside onto his left foot before firing home into the top corner from a good 20 yards.
Now able to focus all their efforts onto the remainder of the Ligue 1 season after being comfortably dispatched by Chelsea in the Champions League, Les Dogues are still in with a shot of qualifying for Europe for 2022-23 - sitting seventh in the table at the time of writing and three points behind Nice in the Conference League spot.
A four-point gap to make up to Strasbourg in the Europa League place is by no means impossible either, and Lille have now strung together an eight-match unbeaten run in Ligue 1 but could not add an eighth successive clean sheet to their tally following Djalo's own goal in the Angers draw.
Nevertheless, Gourvennec's side have demonstrated the defensive resilience that made them champions under Christophe Galtier and have kept four clean sheets in their last four at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy - where they have only lost once in the league since September - but three of those games have ended 0-0.
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Despite seeing their European aspirations take another hit with defeat to continental-chasing Strasbourg just after the international break, Lens made sure that lightning would not strike twice when Nice paid a visit to the Stade Bollaert-Delelis, as Galtier's side were torn to pieces.
Les Sang et Or were fighting an uphill battle from the 17th minute after Massadio Haidara was sent for an early bath, but a double from Arnaud Kalimuendo after a Cheick Doucoure stunner handed Lens a dominant 3-0 win in front of their own fans, with Nice's efforts not helped by two red cards of their own for Mario Lemina and Dante.
Haise's side can still be their own worst enemy at times, but for a side who were plying their trade in Ligue 2 back in 2019-20, challenging for the European spots is no mean feat, and Sang et Or enter the weekend just one point below Lille in eighth and almost within touching distance of the top five.
However, Lens have been shut out in three of their last four away matches in the top flight, which is not what the doctor ordered before facing a side as defensively watertight as Lille, while they have also recorded a mere two clean sheets on the road in 2021-22.
Lens have already got the better of Lille twice in the current campaign, though - a 1-0 home win in the league before edging past the champions on penalties in the Coupe de France - but Les Dogues have won six in a row versus Les Sang et Or in front of their own fans.
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Team News
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Lille attacker Timothy Weah - who is still waiting for his first Ligue 1 goal of the season - is now back from a two-match ban to boost Gourvennec's attacking options, but Hatem Ben Arfa has been exiled from the squad after a row with his boss.
Centre-back Sven Botman is still struggling with the muscular issue he sustained against Chelsea and is set to miss out, allowing Djalo the chance to redeem himself after his mishap last week, while Leo Jardim continues in goal as Ivo Grbic nurses a collarbone injury.
Zhegrova's stunner at the weekend will most likely not be enough to earn him a start in this one, even though David only has one goal to boast from his last 12 Ligue 1 matches and Yilmaz has not netted since December.
As for Lens, Haidara has been slapped with a three-game ban with one suspended match following his sending off in the Nice win, and goalscoring midfielder Doucoure will also sit this one out owing to an accumulation of yellow cards.
Corentin Jean is stepping up his recovery from a knee operation but is not expected back in the fold just yet, while creative hub Gael Kakuta has an issue in the same area and Christopher Wooh has picked up a muscular problem.
Haidara's absence through suspension should see Jonathan Clauss make an immediate return to the side, as Patrick Berg prepares to deputise for Doucoure in the heart of the visitors' midfield.
Lille possible starting lineup:
Jardim; Celik, Fonte, Djalo, Gudmundsson; Sanches, Andre, Xeka, Bamba; David, Yilmaz
Lens possible starting lineup:
Leca; Gradit, Medina, Danso; Clauss, Fofana, Berg, Frankowski; Costa; Sotoca, Kalimuendo
We say: Lille 1-1 Lens
Lille have been solid but not spectacular amid their unbeaten run, and the champions are unlikely to be blowing many teams away while David and Yilmaz fail to fire.
Les Dogues' record at home against Lens speaks for itself, though, and with Haise's side not exactly a force to be reckoned with on the road, we can only see this encounter ending all square.
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 Lille win with a probability of 51.38%. A draw had a probability of 26.5% and a win for Lens had a probability of 22.12%.
The most likely scoreline for a Lille win was 1-0 with a probability of 14.24%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (10.46%) and 2-1 (9.05%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.3%), while for a Lens win it was 0-1 (8.37%). The actual scoreline of 1-2 was predicted with a 5.3% likelihood.
