Montpellier HSC will be looking to continue their charge for a Champions League berth in Ligue 1 when they welcome Metz to the Stade de la Mosson on Wednesday evening.
The hosts came up trumps in a five-goal thriller with Lens last time out, whereas Metz's winless run continued as they played out a 2-2 draw with Strasbourg.
Match preview
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Lens have not made life easy for any side since earning promotion to the big time, and Montpellier manager Michel Der Zakarian knew that his players were going to be in for a rough ride at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis.
Despite two early goals from Stephy Mavididi and Pedro Mendes, Lens levelled the scores through a Gael Kakuta penalty and a Jonas Omlin own goal, but Gaetan Laborde's fourth goal of the campaign saw Montpellier run out 3-2 winners in an enthralling encounter on Saturday.
The return of Andy Delort provided a huge boost for the Paillade faithful, with the 29-year-old registering his 11th goal contribution of the season as he provided the assist for Mavididi's opener, and Delort will be looking to return to scoring ways this week after a torrid time with coronavirus.
Having taken the spoils in five of their last six in the top flight, Der Zakarian's side have risen to fifth in the table following Monaco's loss to Marseille, and Montpellier find themselves just three points adrift of leaders Lille after 14 matches.
La Paillade will climb to third with a victory over Metz this week, but it would likely be for a couple of hours only as fourth-placed Marseille and third-placed Paris Saint-Germain are facing two out-of-sorts sides in Rennes and Lorient on the same evening.
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Meanwhile, Metz's winless run stretched to five games at the weekend with a 2-2 draw against Strasbourg, who have managed to lift themselves out of the relegation zone.
Dylan Bronn and Opa Nguette both found the back of the net for Frederic Antonetti's men, but goals from Mohamed Simakan and Adrien Thomasson ensured that both sides walked away with a point apiece from that encounter.
Les Grenats managed to string together an eight-game unbeaten run between September and November, but Antonetti's side have since struggled to get over the line in matches and now face a challenging run of fixtures in the lead-up to the new year.
Following their trip to the Stade de la Mosson, Metz will face Lens, Rennes and Bordeaux in the French top flight, and failure to take any points from those fixtures would have Les Grenats starting to look over their shoulder.
However, Montpellier have only prevailed in one of the last six meetings between the two sides, with both games last season finishing all square.
Montpellier HSC Ligue 1 form: WWWWLW
Metz Ligue 1 form: WDDLLD
Team News
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Following Delort's return from a positive COVID-19 diagnosis, Der Zakarian is blessed with a fully-fit squad to pick from for the visit of Metz.
Given their strong run of form, Montpellier are expected to stick with the same XI from the win over Lens, with Delort looking to build on the six goals he has already notched up in the league this year.
Metz defender John Boye was suspended for the draw with Strasbourg after seeing red against Lyon, but the captain is back for this one and should demote Kiki Kouyate to the bench.
Goalkeeper Alexandre Oukidja is raring to go despite previous doubts over his fitness, and Habib Maiga should be given the green light for this one after shaking off an adductor injury.
Matthieu Udol, Vincent Pajot and Vagner Dias all remain sidelined for the visitors.
Montpellier HSC possible starting lineup:
Omlin; Sambia, Congre, Mendes, Ristic; Ferri, Mollet, Savanier; Laborde, Delort, Mavididi
Metz possible starting lineup:
Oukidja; Centonze, Bronn, Boye, Delaine; Angban, Maiga, Fofana; Tchimbembe, Nguette, Maziz
We say: Montpellier HSC 2-0 Metz
Metz's winless run does not reflect how the visitors have performed this season at all, but Les Grenats are fighting an uphill battle to walk away with something to show for their efforts at Montpellier. Der Zakarian's men are firing on all cylinders and have been given an uplift with the return of Delort, so this should be a comfortable home win.
Top betting 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 Montpellier HSC win with a probability of 46.33%. A win for Metz had a probability of 27.3% and a draw had a probability of 26.4%.
The most likely scoreline for a Montpellier HSC win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.94%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.06%) and 2-0 (8.65%). The likeliest Metz win was 0-1 (8.63%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.5%). The actual scoreline of 0-2 was predicted with a 4.5% likelihood.
