Rumilly Vallieres and Le Puy F43 Auvergne square off in the Coupe de France on Wednesday looking to earn a surprise place in the quarter-finals.
With both clubs currently plying their trade in the fourth tier of French football, four ties have already been negotiated to reach this stage of the competition.
Match preview
At the start of the season, Rumilly Vallieres and Le Puy were solely focused on trying to earn promotion from their respective divisions in the French pyramid.
However, both of the minnows now find themselves in a position where they can move into the last eight of the Coupe de France for the first time in their history.
Rumilly currently sit in 11th position in National 2, Group C, having put together a four-match winless streak in that division.
Fatsah Amghar's side have also failed to emerge victorious during 90 minutes in three of their four ties in this competition, instead relying on penalty shootouts.
While they thrashed league rivals Saint-Priest 5-1 in one of the earlier rounds, Rumilly have scored just once in three matches played since February 21.
The home side have reached the last 16 courtesy of fixtures against teams outside of Ligue 1, a route shared for the most part by Le Puy.
However, Le Puy recorded a 1-0 win over top-flight outfit Lorient in the previous round, the decisive goal being scored by youngster Lenny Joseph in the 61st minute.
The visitors have responded to relegation from the third tier last season by claiming 16 points from eight games, putting them in third spot in National 2, Group D.
- D
- W
- D
- D
- D
- D
- W
- D
- D
- D
- W
- D
- D
- W
- D
- W
- D
- D
- W
- W
Team News
Rumilly will have to make do without Vincent Di Stefano after the defender was sent off against Annecy in the previous round.
Ousmane Diaby is in contention for a starting spot, but the remainder of the team could stay the same.
Barring any fitness issues, Le Puy boss Ronald Vieira could stick with the players who impressed against Lorient on March 6.
However, Alexy Bosetti has netted eight goals this season, putting him in line for a recall if Vieira opts to add more firepower to the team.
Rumilly Vallieres possible starting lineup:
Delaunay; Diaby, Ribeiro, Michaud, Boinali, Peuget, Cottin, Yuce, Gay, Moke, Liongo
Le Puy F43 Auvergne possible starting lineup:
Oberhauser; Camara, Perrot, Guyot, Dufau, Bouriard, Fadiaga, Taipa, Jabol, Pellegrini, Joseph
We say: Rumilly Vallieres 1-2 Le Puy F43 Auvergne
With both teams having already been involved in a number of penalty shootouts, it would come as no surprise if the same occurred on Wednesday. However, Le Puy have taken the biggest scalps to reach this stage, leading us to predict a narrow win for the visitors.
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 Rumilly Vallieres win with a probability of 37.07%. A win for Le Puy F43 Auvergne had a probability of 35.95% and a draw had a probability of 27%.
The most likely scoreline for a Rumilly Vallieres win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.33%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.1%) and 2-0 (6.53%). The likeliest Le Puy F43 Auvergne win was 0-1 (10.13%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.81%). The actual scoreline of 4-0 was predicted with a 0.9% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Rumilly Vallieres would win this match.
