Two Ligue 1 teams battling for Champions League qualification will lock horns on Saturday afternoon when fourth-placed Strasbourg play host to third-placed Nice.
The hosts have won their last two meetings against Nice; however, the visitors won 2-0 at the Stade de la Meinau last season.
Match preview
© Reuters
Strasbourg were unable to claim a third successive league victory last weekend as they played out a 2-2 draw away at Saint-Etienne.
All four goals were scored within the first 34 minutes, with Wahbi Khazri equalising for the hosts just four minutes after Lucas Perrin had put the visitors 2-1 in front.
Julien Stephan's men remain in fourth place but the gap to Saturday's opponents Nice has now increased to three points following their win against Angers.
Considering that Strasbourg were promoted to the top flight in 2017 and have since finished no higher than 10th place, Stephan and co will be delighted with their season so far and they remain in a strong position to qualify for Europe.
Since the start of December, the Racers have won seven of their 10 Ligue 1 matches and have accumulated 22 points, more than any other team in the division. They have also won seven of their last 10 games on home soil, scoring at least three times on six of these occasions.
Strasbourg have won their last two meetings against Nice, including a comfortable 3-0 success in December, and securing another three points on Saturday would boost their chances of qualifying for the Champions League for the very first time.
© Reuters
Nice bounced back from successive league defeats against Clermont and Lyon with a slender 1-0 win at home against Angers last weekend.
Justin Kluivert netted the only goal of the game when his left-footed strike trickled under the goalkeeper in the 19th minute, helping the Riviera outfit secure their 14th league win of the campaign.
As well as moving two points further ahead of Strasbourg, Christophe Galtier's side were able to capitalise on Marseille's surprise 2-0 loss against Clermont and have moved to within one point of the Olympians in second place.
Nice head to the Stade de la Meinau with the joint-second best away record in Ligue 1, accumulating 25 points from their 12 matches and conceding only seven times, the fewest in the division.
The Eaglets may have one eye on their Coupe des France semi-final against Versailles next Tuesday, but they will be keen to claim maximum points against top-three rivals Strasbourg on Saturday and consolidate their Champions League qualification spot.
- W
- W
- L
- W
- W
- D
- W
- W
- W
- L
- L
- W
- W
- W
- L
- W
- L
- W
Team News
© Reuters
Strasbourg midfielder Dimitri Lienard will serve a one-match suspension due to an accumulation of yellow cards, while Maxime Le Marchand and Ismael Doukoure are both sidelined with injuries.
Stephan is expected to name his strongest possible side this weekend, so top goalscorer Ludovic Ajorque – who has netted 10 times so far this term – will likely replace Habib Diallo and join Kevin Gameiro up front.
Adrien Thomasson is set to continue in a three-man midfield alongside Jean-Ricner Bellegarde and Sanjin Prcic, while Frederic Guilbert and Anthony Caci are the two most likely candidates to operate as the wing-backs.
As for Nice, Flavius Daniliuc is set to replace the suspended Jean-Clair Todibo at centre-back, partnering experienced Brazilian Dante.
Right-back Youcef Atal remains sidelined with a broken collarbone, with Jordan Lotomba continuing to deputise.
Galtier will face a dilemma as to who he selects to start up front; Kasper Dolberg and Andy Delort both started last time out – the former scored twice in his last visit to Strasbourg, while the latter has netted five times in his last six league games against the Racers.
However, Amine Gouiri, who started on the bench last weekend, is the club's top goalscorer with 10 strikes to his name this season, so he could be handed a recall.
Strasbourg possible starting lineup:
Sels; Perrin, Nyamsi, Djiku; Guilbert, Thomasson, Prcic, Bellegarde, Caci; Ajorque, Gameiro
Nice possible starting lineup:
Benitez; Lotomba, Daniliuc, Dante, Bard; Boudaoui, Rosario, Lemina, Kluivert; Gouiri, Dolberg
We say: Strasbourg 2-1 Nice
An entertaining contest will likely be on the cards between two attack-minded teams who will be hoping to steal a march on their rivals in the hunt for Champions League football next season.
Strasbourg head into Saturday's fixture in slightly better form than Nice and so they may just do enough to secure a slender victory on home soil.
Top tip
Oliver Thomas
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 Strasbourg win with a probability of 54.2%. A draw had a probability of 24.1% and a win for Nice had a probability of 21.72%.
The most likely scoreline for a Strasbourg win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.72%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (9.93%) and 2-1 (9.7%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.45%), while for a Nice win it was 0-1 (6.76%). The actual scoreline of 0-0 was predicted with a 6.9% likelihood.
