Lorient and Lyon will both be looking to register their first win since the opening day of the Ligue 1 season when the two sides lock horns on Sunday afternoon.
Lorient's most recent outing ended in a 3-2 defeat to Brest, whereas Lyon were held to a goalless stalemate by Nimes last Friday.
Match preview
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Since enjoying an opening-day victory against Strasbourg, Lorient have been handed a harsh welcome back to life in the top flight after finishing top of the pile in the 2019-20 Ligue 2 campaign.
Christophe Pelissier's men were put to the sword 2-0 by early leaders Saint-Etienne before suffering back-to-back 3-2 defeats to Lens and most recently Brest, with Thomas Monconduit's late goal in that outing proving to be nothing more than a mere consolation for Lorient.
Bottom two sides Reims and Dijon are the only other clubs to have lost their last three in a row, and Lorient will be hoping to arrest their slump lest they risk becoming early candidates for the drop.
Avoiding an immediate return to Ligue 2 would constitute a successful season for Pelissier, who may feel like there is no better time to be facing Lyon given their recent woes in front of goal.
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Lyon fans would have felt confident about their side's chances of returning to winning ways against a Nimes side looking to avoid a third defeat on the bounce, but it did not pan out that way for the Ligue 1 powerhouses.
Indeed, Rudi Garcia's men came up short once again as Les Crocodiles held the Champions League hopefuls to a goalless draw at the Groupama Stadium – already the second time this season that Lyon have failed to find the back of the net in a league game.
One win, two draws and one loss is not the kind of form expected from a side who reached last season's Champions League semi-finalists, but with no European football to contend with this season, Lyon can focus all their efforts on improving their current 12th-placed standing.
The two sides last faced off against each other in the 2016-17 Ligue 1 campaign, and incredibly, Lorient did the double over Les Gones before being relegated via the playoffs.
Lorient Ligue 1 form: WLLL
Lyon Ligue 1 form: WDLD
Team News
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New Lorient signing Armand Lauriente is expected to be sidelined for another few weeks with a groin injury, while Chelsea loanee Trevoh Chalobah was absent from Pelissier's squad for the defeat to Brest and is set to miss out again.
Quentin Boisgard was forced off after just 16 minutes last weekend and will be on the treatment table for two weeks at least, with Stephane Diarra set to come in on the right flank.
Centre-back Matthieu Saunier is also nursing an ankle injury, but Julien Laporte should come back into the side after only making the bench against Brest.
With regards to Lyon, Garcia reverted to a 4-4-2 over his tried-and-tested three-at-the-back system against Nimes, and the Gones manager will probably stick with a four-man defence here.
That means that Houssem Aouar is expected to come back into the fold after serving a suspension, although the midfielder continues to be linked with a move to Arsenal.
Jeff Reine-Adelaide is out of this one but has already voiced his desire to leave, while Karl Toko Ekambi is doubtful with a muscular problem.
Lorient possible starting lineup:
Nardi; Mendes, Fontaine, Laporte, Le Goff; Lemoine, Monconduit; Diarra, Fee, Wissa; Grbic
Lyon possible starting lineup:
Lopes; Dubois, Denayer, Marcelo, Bard; Caqueret, Aouar, Guimaraes; Cherki, Dembele, Depay
We say: Lorient 0-2 Lyon
Lyon must find a way to break their goalscoring duck if they are to stake an early claim for a top-four finish, and they have been handed a prime opportunity to do so against a Lorient side who have shipped the joint-most goals in the league. The hosts are sure to dig deep to try and find a way of coming out on top, but we cannot see any other result than a routine victory for Les Gones.
Top betting tip
Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting an away 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.Away Win: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 Lyon win with a probability of 45.28%. A win for Lorient had a probability of 29.31% and a draw had a probability of 25.4%.
The most likely scoreline for a Lyon win was 0-1 with a probability of 10.29%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (9.17%) and 0-2 (7.83%). The likeliest Lorient win was 1-0 (7.94%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.06%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with a 12.1% likelihood.
