Nantes take a short journey North West to Lorient on Sunday afternoon for a Breton derby that could well prove to be a Ligue 1 relegation six-pointer.
Both sides are without a win in their last five matches - with Lorient's streak running much further back - and sit 13th and 16th in the table.
Match preview
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Lorient's winless run now stretches to over two months, with their most recent victory coming at home to Nice on September 22.
The statistics do not get any better the further you look. Les Merlus have lost their last five matches, scoring just one goal and conceding 11 during that time.
The last seven days have seen them lose 2-0 twice, first at home to high-flying Rennes, before fellow strugglers Troyes sealed an important win with first-half goals from Renaud Ripart and Rominigue Kouame.
As a result of their sharp dip in form, Christophe Pelissier's have dropped to within three points of the bottom two, and they will know they need to put an end to their losing run sooner rather than later if they are to preserve their top-flight status this season.
They can take some inspiration from a 1-0 friendly win over their upcoming opponents during the summer, but they have lost three of the last four competitive encounters between the two.
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Nantes' run without a win is a little more justifiable when you consider that their three most recent games have come against runaway leaders Paris Saint-Germain, reigning champions Lille and second-placed Marseille.
They did earn against the stuttering title-holders last weekend, thanks to a Ludovic Blas equaliser and some determined defending after Fabio Da Silva earned himself a red card with 12 minutes remaining.
Another dismissal - this time captain Nicolas Pallois - came after just half an hour on Wednesday and meant a game in which they were already one down became about damage limitation.
Antoine Kombouare's men successfully kept the margin of defeat to just one goal and the manager will now hope that an easier run of games can help them find some points and some momentum.
If not, they could find themselves slipping into another relegation dogfight, having survived last year by the skin of their teeth via the playoffs.
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Team News
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Lorient continue to battle with several injury issues, as Vincent Le Goff, Fabien Lemoine, Moritz Jenz and Jeremy Morel are all set to continue spells on the sidelines.
Pelissier seems determined to stick to his favoured 3-5-2 formation despite his side's shocking run of form, so expect them to head out with the same setup once again.
Nantes will be deprived of defender Pallois after his aforementioned red card, with Andrei Girotto likely to fill in at centre-back.
The Canaries are also worried about the fitness of Moses Simon - the Nigerian did not train on Friday due to knee pain and a test will be carried out on Saturday to find out if he is fit.
Pedro Chirivella and Fabio will, however, return from suspension.
Lorient possible starting lineup:
Nardi; Mendes, Laporte, Petrot; Carioca, Monconduit, Abergel, Le Fee, Loric; Grbic, Lauriente
Nantes possible starting lineup:
Lafont; Merlin, Girotto, Castelletto, Fabio; Cyprien, Chirivella; Kolo Muani, Blas, Simon; Coulibaly
We say: Lorient 1-2 Nantes
Surely one side has to return to winning ways here, and it is the away side who look more likely to do so. Nantes have had a tough run of games recently - and still managed to take a point away from them - so a side struggling as badly as Lorient presents them with a good chance of ending their own winless streak.
Top tip
James Mackenzie
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 40.5%. A win for Nantes had a probability of 31.84% and a draw had a probability of 27.7%.
The most likely scoreline for a Lorient win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.83%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.34%) and 2-0 (7.57%). The likeliest Nantes win was 0-1 (10.18%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.03%). The actual scoreline of 0-1 was predicted with a 10.2% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted that Nantes would win this match.
