Lyon will aim to immediately recover from their Europa League disappointment when Ligue 1 strugglers Bordeaux pay a visit to the Groupama Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Peter Bosz's side were knocked out of continental competition by West Ham United in midweek, while Les Girondins gave their survival hopes a mammoth boost by seeing off Metz.
Match preview
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The confidence of Lyon's Twitter admin was certainly unfounded before West Ham paid a visit to the French turf, and David Moyes's side ensured that Les Gones would be left red-faced after storming into the semi-finals of the Europa League at the expense of Bosz's under-performing crop.
After holding on to draw 1-1 in the first leg with 10 men, Craig Dawson's near-post header and Declan Rice's slightly-deflected effort put West Ham into the ascendancy before the half-time whistle blew, while Jarrod Bowen repeated his trick from the clash in London to serve Lyon a slice of humble pie.
Bosz admitted before the game that success in the Europa League would likely define Lyon's season, but with a shot at glory in the continent no longer a possibility, Les Gones must somehow attempt to drastically improve on their 10th-placed standing in the Ligue 1 table and force their way back into European contention.
A five-point gap separates Lyon from a potential place in the Europa Conference League after they dropped even more points in a 1-1 draw with Strasbourg at the weekend, with Les Gones only posting one win from their last seven games in all tournaments and losing two of their last three Ligue 1 matches at the Groupama Stadium.
A trip to Marseille represents the only real test left on Lyon's schedule before the curtain closes on a Ligue 1 season which they will want to forget in a hurry, and one can only wonder what defeat to a lowly Bordeaux would mean for Bosz's future in the Gones hotseat.
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In a true relegation six-pointer at the foot of the Ligue 1 table, David Guion's Bordeaux knew that they could largely kiss any survival hopes goodbye with anything less than three points against Metz, but they finally came up with the goods in front of their disgruntled supporters.
Going 1-0 down to Didier Lamkel Ze and losing Timothee Pembele to injury told the story of Bordeaux's season in the opening 45 minutes, but Ricardo Mangas, Mbaye Niang and talismanic striker Hwang Ui-jo all responded in the second half to lift Bordeaux off the foot of the table.
Having managed to put a stop to an eight-game winless run in the top flight, Bordeaux have leapfrogged Metz into 19th and only have a two-point gap to make up to Clermont in 17th place, so every game is most definitely a cup final for Guion's side between now and the end of the season.
Seeing off Metz and holding champions Lille to a 0-0 draw represents an eye-catching start to April for Bordeaux, who kept their first away clean sheet of the season at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy, but they have taken a mere two points from their last seven Ligue 1 games on rival turf.
Bordeaux did manage to hold Lyon to a 2-2 draw at the Matmut Atlantique earlier this season, which saw them keep up their underwhelming streak of drawing one then losing one against Les Gones since their most recent victory in this fixture back in January 2018.
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Team News
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Lyon midfield duo Houssem Aouar and Tanguy Ndombele both shook off injury concerns in time to start the defeat to West Ham, while Lucas Paqueta was a surprise inclusion despite previous confirmation that he would sit out due to COVID-19.
First-choice goalkeeper Anthony Lopes did miss out owing to a thigh issue and is likely to be absent again this weekend, joining Maxence Caqueret, Lenny Pintor, Rayan Cherki and Sinaly Diomande on the sidelines.
Such a horror showing in midweek will certainly lead Bosz to consider a few alterations, as Tete, Leo Dubois and Jerome Boateng seek to provide fresh legs, while Paqueta should also be fit enough to return to the first XI.
Meanwhile, Bordeaux youngster Pembele has been dealt a devastating blow with the news that he will miss the rest of the season after a ruptured cruciate ligament in the Metz win - the same can be said for Alberth Elis and his knee injury.
Former Lyon defender Marcelo cannot face his former club due to a muscular injury, while Issouf Sissokho is also absent, but Stian Gregersen will seemingly be fine despite coming off with an unspecified issue last weekend.
Gideon Mensah will hope to replace Gregersen either way after assisting Niane's effort as a substitute against Metz, while Fransergio and Tom Lacoux will battle it out to replace the suspended Danylo Ignatenko.
Lyon possible starting lineup:
Pollersbeck; Dubois, Boateng, Lukeba, Emerson; Mendes, Ndombele; Tete, Paqueta, Toko Ekambi; Dembele
Bordeaux possible starting lineup:
Poussin; Guilavogui, Ahmedhodzic, Gregersen; Mensah, Onana, Lacoux, Mangas; Dilrosun; Niane, Hwang
We say: Lyon 2-1 Bordeaux
Bordeaux's bid for survival has started to gather a bit of momentum in the past couple of weeks, and if Lyon's showing against West Ham is anything to go by, a shock triumph for Les Girondins cannot be ruled out.
Bosz's side rarely end up on the wrong end of a home scoreline in Ligue 1, though, and a refreshed set of attacking options should possess the necessary firepower to propel Les Gones to a confidence-boosting win, but it should not be the walk in the park that the table would suggest.
Top tip
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 74.32%. A draw had a probability of 16% and a win for Bordeaux had a probability of 9.7%.
The most likely scoreline for a Lyon win was 2-0 with a probability of 12.12%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (9.94%) and 3-0 (9.85%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (7.57%), while for a Bordeaux win it was 0-1 (3.1%). The actual scoreline of 6-1 was predicted with a 0.9% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that Lyon would win this match.
