Two Ligue 1 sides who sit just outside the top four will lock horns on Saturday evening, when fifth-placed Lorient travel to face Lyon in sixth at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais.
The hosts are yet to lose on home soil so far this season, while the visitors have failed to win each of their four away matches in the French top flight.
Match preview
© Reuters
After conceding a stoppage-time goal and losing 2-1 away at Paris Saint-Germain last weekend, Lyon bounced back to claim all three points when they won 3-1 at home against Troyes on Wednesday night.
Peter Bosz's men went into half time 1-0 down after Xavier Chavalerin drilled in the opening goal for the visitors. However, Lyon responded quickly after the break when summer signing Xherdan Shaqiri curled in his first goal for the club in the 48th minute.
The hosts were very much on the ascendency following the Swiss international's equaliser, and were able to score two more goals thanks to Emerson Palmieri and Lucas Paqueta, with the latter finding the net for the third successive league game.
Lyon have now won three of their last four Ligue 1 matches, but after their slow start to the campaign they sit sixth in the current standings and 11 points behind league leaders PSG.
Les Gones head into Saturday's fixture with a mixed record against Lorient in recent years, after winning, drawing and losing two games each in their last six meetings.
Their most recent result against them was a convincing 4-1 triumph on home soil in May, so that should provide Bosz's squad with plenty of confidence this weekend, as they aim to climb into the top four.
© Reuters
Lorient, meanwhile, extended their unbeaten league run to four matches when they claimed a slender 1-0 victory at home against Nice on Wednesday evening.
The only goal of the game was scored in the 23rd minute by Thomas Monconduit, who curled in a brilliant effort from the edge of the area after a well-worked set-piece.
Les Merlus were, however, a little fortunate to come away with three points as the visitors squandered several good chances, including Amine Gouiri's second-half penalty kick which he blazed over the crossbar.
Nevertheless, Lorient have continued their bright start to the campaign, accumulating five more points than at this stage last season and, just as significantly, are placed 12 positions higher with just goal difference separating them from the top four.
Christophe Pelissier's men – who finished in 16th place last season – have scored just eight times this season, with only Reims, Saint-Etienne and Metz finding the net on fewer occasions with seven. Lorient's attacking threat is one department the 55-year-old will be keen to address as their luck in holding on to win by one-goal margins surely cannot last throughout the entire campaign.
Defensively, Lorient have been impressive, conceding just seven goals and keeping three clean sheets. Their defensive foundations will need to remain intact on Saturday when they face Lyon side who have scored in each of their last six games across all competitions, as well as scoring four against them in this fixture last season.
- L
- D
- W
- W
- L
- W
- D
- W
- W
- W
- L
- W
- W
- L
- D
- W
- D
- W
Team News
© Reuters
Lyon pair Jeff Reine-Adelaide and Lenny Pintor continue to recover from ACL injuries while forward Tino Kadewere is ruled out with a muscle problem.
Leo Dubois and Moussa Dembele, who returned to the matchday squad in midweek and came on as substitutes, will be in contention to start ahead of Malo Gusto and Islam Slimani respectively.
Deep-lying midfielders Maxence Caqueret and Bruno Guimaraes are expected to keep their places in the first XI behind attacking midfield trio Shaqiri, Paqueta and Houssem Aouar.
As for Lorient, centre-back Thomas Fontaine is likely to come into the starting lineup for Moritz Jenz, who was sent off in midweek and will serve a one-match suspension.
The visitors will also be without Fabien Lemoine due to personal reasons, while Quentin Boisgard (heel) and Jeremy Morel (thigh) are also unavailable as they are recovering from injury.
Pelissier is expected to stick with a 5-3-2 formation, which will likely see central midfield trio Monconduit, Laurent Abergel and Enzo Le Fee remain in the starting lineup, behind strikers Terem Moffi and Adrian Grbic.
Lyon possible starting lineup:
Lopes; Dubois, Diomande, Denayer, Emerson; Caqueret, Guimaraes; Shaqiri, Paqueta, Aouar; Dembele
Lorient possible starting lineup:
Nardi; Hergault, Mendes, Laporte, Fontaine, Le Goff; Monconduit, Abergel, Le Fee; Grbic, Moffi
We say: Lyon 2-1 Lorient
Lyon and Lorient have enjoyed decent league runs over the last month and they will be keen for their respective form to continue as they aim to climb into the top four.
We can see both teams scoring on Saturday, though the hosts should have enough quality to claim a narrow victory on home soil.
Top tip
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 69.23%. A draw had a probability of 17.9% and a win for Lorient had a probability of 12.87%.
The most likely scoreline for a Lyon win was 2-0 with a probability of 10.9%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.68%) and 1-0 (9.45%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (8.39%), while for a Lorient win it was 1-2 (3.72%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with an 8.4% likelihood.
