The Stade Raymond Kopa could play host to Lille's Ligue 1 title celebrations this week, assuming that they can get the better of Angers on the final day of the season.
Les Dogues sit one point clear of Paris Saint-Germain at the summit, while Angers are assured of survival and have nothing but pride to play for this weekend.
Match preview
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After 10 years, 415 matches and a Coupe de France runners-up medal, Stephane Moulin's admirable tenure in the Angers dugout will end this weekend as he prepares to step down from his Scoistes post, but it has not been the farewell that the 53-year-old has been after so far.
The club's chances of a top-half finish are now dead in the water and victory over basement side Dijon earlier this month did little to lift their spirits, as Moulin's side quickly returned to losing ways with a 3-2 defeat to Marseille in the penultimate gameweek.
Les Scoistes managed to recover from Arkadiusz Milik's brace to level the scores through Mathias Pereira Lage and Romain Thomas, but Milik completed his hat-trick from the spot deep into added time to leave Angers ruing what could have been.
The 12th-placed Scoistes cannot be dragged into a fight for survival at this very late stage and can only finish as high as 10th should other results go their way, but Angers' record against table-topping teams makes for miserable reading, as they have lost 15 of their last 17 against teams starting the gameweek at the summit.
With the likes of Stephane Bahoken and Lois Diony contributing to 39 league goals this season - the second lowest in the division ahead of Dijon - Moulin's successor has his work cut out for him as he bids to reignite a sometimes toothless Scoistes attack and push for a top-10 ranking next term.
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Ninety minutes separates Lille from ending Paris Saint-Germain's reign of dominance in the top flight, and while their title destiny is still in their own hands, a goalless stalemate with Saint-Etienne last week has led to a bit of uncertainty creeping in before the final gameweek.
The league leaders were thwarted by up-and-coming Verts goalkeeper Etienne Green, whose lightning-quick reactions prevented Yusuf Yazici from settling the tie with a late free kick at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy, and Lille collected one of the four points necessary to lift the trophy aloft.
Christophe Galtier's side broke the 80-point mark with that stalemate, but PSG's dominant showing against Reims means that the reigning champions have cut the gap at the top to just one point, so the onus is on Lille's potent strikeforce in Burak Yilmaz and Jonathan David to get the job done this weekend.
A minor blip against Saint-Etienne does not require the panic button to be pressed, and Lille travel to Angers on a four-game winning streak away from home, with a 3-2 defeat at Brest in November representing the only time that Galtier's side have lost on the road in Ligue 1 this term.
Angers did manage to claim a shock 2-1 victory at Lille back in January, but they suffered three consecutive defeats to Les Dogues before that, and Galtier's crop hardly have the look of a side who are about to let the title slip through their grasp.
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Team News
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Angers lynchpin Lassana Coulibaly serves the third and final game of a three-match suspension this weekend, while Ibrahim Amadou's thigh injury has also forced Moulin's hand in the middle of the park.
Defensive duo Ismael Traore and Abdoulaye Bamba remain out of contention, while Vincent Manceau has emerged as a fresh doubt with a knee injury, but Souleyman Doumbia has recovered from a leg injury.
Doumbia could be forced to fill in at right-back if Manceau and Bamba both miss out, while Lage and Bahoken are both hoping to displace Farid El Melali and Diony in the final third.
Lille's defensive mainstay Jose Fonte will be forced to miss this season-defining game through suspension, so the young Tiago Djalo will partner up with fellow 21-year-old Sven Botman in the heart of the visitors' defence.
Isaac Lihadji - who was not in any position to push for a start - is the only absentee for Galtier, who should avoid the temptation to shuffle the pack despite dropping two points in gameweek 37.
Leicester City-linked Boubakary Soumare should therefore keep his spot in the engine room alongside Benjamin Andre, as Yazici plays second fiddle to David and Yilmaz once more.
Angers possible starting lineup:
Bernardoni; Doumbia, Thomas, Pavlovic, Capelle; Mangani, Bobichon; Thioub, Fulgini, Lage; Bahoken
Lille possible starting lineup:
Maignan; Celik, Djalo, Botman, Reinildo; Araujo, Andre, Soumare, Bamba; David, Yilmaz
We say: Angers 0-2 Lille
It is not only Lille supporters who are praying for PSG's stronghold on the French football scene to end this weekend, as this season has been a magnificent advert for Ligue 1 and will be even more so if Les Dogues manage to avoid a calamitous collapse on the final day.
There will be no room for sentiment during Moulin's farewell appearance, and we expect Lille to spoil the Angers coach's party with another comfortable win on the road before they collect their winners' medals.
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 Lille win with a probability of 43.02%. A win for Angers had a probability of 29.87% and a draw had a probability of 27.1%.
The most likely scoreline for a Lille win was 0-1 with a probability of 11.86%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.68%) and 0-2 (8.03%). The likeliest Angers win was 1-0 (9.47%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.82%). The actual scoreline of 1-2 was predicted with an 8.7% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Lille would win this match.
