Montpellier HSC make the trip to Lorient on Sunday afternoon looking to record their fourth successive victory in Ligue 1.
As for the home side, they head into the contest at Stade du Moistoir sitting in the bottom three, having recorded just one point from their last four fixtures.
Match preview
© Reuters
While the top four in Ligue 1 is pretty much as many people would have predicted, Montpellier are suggesting that they have the potential to upset the apple cart.
Although their three wins in succession have been against teams sitting in the bottom half of the table, their recent haul has taken them to within four points of top spot.
Montpellier are no strangers to competing for the European places, but the likes of Andy Delort and Gaetan Laborde are giving their fans reasons to be optimistic about the future.
Victory on Sunday would keep them in close proximity with the frontrunners ahead of playing host to Paris Saint-Germain next weekend, a time when the leaders will be distracted by Champions League matters.
Michel Der Zakarian may have a job on his hands to ensure that complacency does not creep in ahead of the weekend, with Lorient struggling at the opposite end of the table.
The home side have scored just three goals from their last half-a-dozen outings, all of which came during a 19-minute period in the second half of their win over Reims on October 17.
Les Merlus have now gone 370 minutes without finding the back of the net, and last year's Ligue 1 champions need to find a solution as soon as possible.
Victory at the weekend could take the club up to 15th spot, highlighting the small margins at the lower end of the standings, but they will need to improve on a number of levels if they are to get anything from this game.
Lorient Ligue 1 form: LWLDLL
Montpellier HSC Ligue 1 form: LDLWWW
Team News
© Reuters
The 4-0 reverse at Lille will almost certainly lead to Christophe Pelissier making changes to his Lorient XI.
Sylvain Marveaux is expected to be among the players to drop down to the substitutes' bench, which would allow Pierre-Yves Hamel to return in attack.
As far as Montpellier are concerned, Der Zakarian could name the same team which started the seven-goal thriller with Strasbourg.
Yun Il-Lok could be granted his first Ligue 1 start of the season if Stephy Mavididi is only named among the replacements.
Lorient possible starting lineup:
Nardi; Mendes, Laporte, Gravillon, Morel; Lauriente, Chalobah, Abergel, Wissa; Moffi, Hamel
Montpellier HSC possible starting lineup:
Omlin; Sambia, Mendes, Congre, Ristic; Savanier, Ferri, Mollet; Laborde, Delort, Mavididi
We say: Lorient 1-3 Montpellier HSC
Given their recent dismal run, it is difficult to make a case for Lorient getting anything from this game. While they may improve in some areas, Montpellier's extra quality should shine through when it matters most.
Top betting 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 Lorient win with a probability of 37.53%. A win for Montpellier HSC had a probability of 34.06% and a draw had a probability of 28.4%.
The most likely scoreline for a Lorient win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.93%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (7.83%) and 2-0 (7.05%). The likeliest Montpellier HSC win was 0-1 (11.22%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.26%). The actual scoreline of 0-1 was predicted with an 11.2% likelihood.
