Two sides neck-and-neck in the Ligue 1 table after two matches will lock horns in the third round of fixtures as Lorient play host to Lens at the Stade du Moustoir this Sunday.
Lorient suffered a 2-0 defeat at Saint-Etienne last time out, while Lens recorded a historic victory over champions Paris Saint-Germain on Thursday.
Match preview
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Lorient were unable to keep the momentum going from the opening-weekend victory over Strasbourg as they succumbed to a 2-0 defeat against Saint-Etienne in gameweek two.
A brace from veteran forward Romain Hamouma sent the newly-promoted side crashing back down to earth as they attempt to avoid an immediate relegation back down to Ligue 2 this time around.
Securing a second consecutive season of top-flight football would constitute a successful campaign for Christophe Pelissier's side, who have no reason whatsoever to dwell on their defeat to Saint-Etienne so early on in the season.
Lorient have a clash with struggling Brest to look forward to before they face off against Lyon in a fortnight's time, although they might find it more difficult than expected to overcome a Lens side buoyed by one of the most famous results in the club's 114-year history.
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Lens were promoted to the top flight alongside Lorient when the 2019-20 Ligue 2 campaign was abruptly ended, and it is fair to say that no-one could have expected Franck Haise's men to take all three points against PSG two weeks into the season.
It is important to note that PSG were far from full strength having seen their squad ravaged by coronavirus, but the Lens faithful will not care about that in the slightest after Ignatius Ganago's second-half winner proved to be the difference on the night.
Haise's side kicked off their campaign with a 2-1 defeat to Nice, but prevailing against the Champions League finalists in just their second game back in the top flight will go down in Lens folklore for years to come as they endeavour to cement their status as a top-flight club.
However, Lens must now negotiate a quick turnaround in fixtures as they face off against a familiar foe in Lorient this Sunday - a team they have only beaten three times since the turn of the millennium.
Lens recorded a 1-0 victory in the only encounter between the two sides last season in the second division, ending a 12-game winless streak in all competitions against Lorient in doing so.
Lorient Ligue 1 form: WL
Lens Ligue 1 form: LW
Team News
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Lorient forward Pierre-Yves Hamel suffered a concussion in a friendly match last weekend, but club-record signing Adrian Grbic was never likely to be displaced up top.
Winger Stephane Diarra came off the bench in the defeat to Saint-Etienne and is in contention to feature from the first whistle here.
Trevoh Chalobah - on loan from Chelsea - is still waiting to make his debut for the Ligue 1 side after testing positive for coronavirus following his arrival in Lorient.
As for Lens, Haise will be expected to shuffle the pack for the weekend encounter with minimal time off following their win over PSG.
Massadio Haidara is an option on the left-hand side after returning from suspension, but Cheick Traore, Seko Fofana and Charles Boli are expected to miss out through injury once again.
With regards to any potential changes, Florian Sotoca is in line to replace Simon Banza up top, while captain Yannick Cahuzac could feature in the middle of the park.
Lorient possible starting lineup:
Nardi; Mendes, Laporte, Fontaine, Goff; Lemoine, Abergel; Diarra, Le Fee, Wissa; Grbic
Lens possible starting lineup:
Leca; Gradit, Bade, Medina; Clauss, Doucoure, Cahuzac, Sylla; Kakuta; Ganago, Sotoca
We say: Lorient 1-0 Lens
Even though Lens will be encouraged by their historic victory over PSG heading into the weekend, their recent record against Lorient is far from spectacular. The visitors have had very little time to recover from their midweek triumph and Lorient's attackers are capable of causing Haise's backline plenty of problems, so we are backing the home side to scrape a narrow victory in gameweek three.
Top betting tip
Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting a double chance bet on a home win or draw 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/Draw:data
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 Lorient win with a probability of 36.97%. A win for Lens had a probability of 34.79% and a draw had a probability of 28.2%.
The most likely scoreline for a Lorient win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.63%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (7.81%) and 2-0 (6.87%). The likeliest Lens win was 0-1 (11.19%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.22%). The actual scoreline of 2-3 was predicted with a 1.7% likelihood.
