Brest will be eyeing a much-needed return to winning ways when they welcome Ligue 1 basement boys Dijon to the Stade Francis-Le Ble for Wednesday's showdown.
The hosts fell to a late 2-0 defeat at Monaco last time out, whereas Dijon's already-slim hopes of survival took yet another hit as they were thrashed by Paris Saint-Germain.
Match preview
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Managing to keep a free-scoring Monaco team at bay for 75 minutes is no mean feat, but Brest eventually succumbed to the Monegasques' superiority as the title hopefuls claimed a 2-0 win at the Stade Louis II on Sunday lunchtime.
After Gautier Larsonneur had superbly saved Wissam Ben Yedder's penalty, Stevan Jovetic and Kevin Volland broke through in the second 45 to condemn Brest to a second defeat in succession, and Niko Kovac's well-drilled rearguard also managed to prevent Olivier Dall'Oglio's charges from scoring on the day - something that not many teams have managed this season.
With only one win to boast from their last nine in the premier division, 14th-placed Brest are slipping closer and closer to the dotted line after previous whispers of a European challenge, and six points now separate Les Pirates from 18th-placed Nimes, who are enjoying a mini-revival.
However, with the attacking potency that has been evident at the Stade Francis-Le Ble all season, Brest should have enough firepower to avoid being dragged into a survival scrap, as the 39 goals they have already chalked up is by far the highest in the bottom half of the standings.
Furthermore, Dall'Oglio's men have scored in all but one of their 13 Ligue 1 home games this season - with 10 of those fixtures seeing Brest find the back of the net at least twice at the Stade Francis-Le Ble - so Dijon could be in for a long evening as the hosts aim to bounce back from three defeats in their last four at home.
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Any early signs of promise for Dijon under David Linares have been consigned to history - Les Hiboux are highly unlikely to pull off a great escape now and ought to start preparing for life in Ligue 2 for the 2021-22 campaign.
A much-changed Paris Saint-Germain side bedevilled by injuries had no problem thrashing Linares's side 4-0 at the weekend, with Kylian Mbappe netting a brace, while Moise Kean and Danilo Pereira also chalked up goals at the Stade Gaston-Gerard to leave Dijon firmly rooted to the bottom of the standings.
Of course, it is still mathematically possible for Les Hiboux to clamber to safety, but they are witnessing the teams around them in Lorient, Nimes and Nantes all pick up points while they are waiting for their first positive result since a 1-1 draw with Strasbourg on January 24 - they have lost eight in a row across all competitions since.
Dijon have amassed a mere 15 points after 27 matches and are 11 adrift of safety as things stand, while they are also the only team in the division yet to register a win since the turn of the year, so any hopes of another season in the big time will soon be extinguished if their plight continues.
However, Dijon's only two victories this season have come on the road, although they have since lost four in a row on rival turf and were swept aside by Brest 2-0 earlier in the campaign.
Brest Ligue 1 form: LDWDLL
Brest form (all competitions): DWWDLL
Dijon Ligue 1 form: LLLLLL
Dijon form (all competitions): LLLLLL
Team News
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Brest goalkeeper Larsonneur was recalled to the fold after Sebastien Cibois's error-strewn performance against Lyon, and the 24-year-old is in no danger of losing his place here following his penalty save at the weekend.
As well as long-term absentee Denys Bain, Les Pirates lost defender Christophe Herelle to a knee injury before the Monaco defeat, and he is not expected to come back for the midweek visit of Dijon.
Dall'Oglio may be tempted to introduce fresh legs up top in the form of Irvin Cardona, but the hosting manager will not want to disrupt the harmony too much after a relatively solid showing against Monaco.
Dijon continue to cope without the suspended Aboubakar Kamara, so Mama Balde and Moussa Konate are set to continue up top once again.
Yassine Benzia made his long-awaited return to the fold at the weekend, but Mounir Chouiar was left out of the squad entirely for the PSG match amid a troubled campaign.
It remains to be seen if Didier Ndong will recover from a bout of sickness to play this week, while Wesley Lautoa is holding out for a recall in midfield after Pape Cheikh suffered an injury against PSG.
Brest possible starting lineup:
Larsonneur; Pierre-Gabriel, Duverne, Brassier, Perraud; Lasne, Lucas, Belkebla; Honorat, Cardona, Faivre
Dijon possible starting lineup:
Racioppi; Boey, Manga, Panzo, Coulibaly, Muzinga; Lautoa, Ebimbe, Celina; Konate, Balde
We say: Brest 2-0 Dijon
Dijon have performed better on the road than on their own turf this season, but the league's whipping boys would need nothing short of a miracle to get one over a free-scoring Brest this week. The hosts have not enjoyed a positive set of results recently either, but Dall'Oglio's men should have no trouble returning to winning ways in midweek.
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 Brest win with a probability of 53.68%. A draw had a probability of 23.8% and a win for Dijon had a probability of 22.56%.
The most likely scoreline for a Brest win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.92%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.75%) and 2-0 (9.44%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.28%), while for a Dijon win it was 0-1 (6.53%). The actual scoreline of 3-1 was predicted with a 5.6% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Brest would win this match.
