Dijon will kick off their 2020-21 Ligue 1 campaign on Saturday as they play host to Angers at the Stade Gaston Gerard.
Dijon finished 16th when the previous season was curtailed amid the coronavirus outbreak, while Angers secured 11th spot with 39 points to show from 28 matches.
Match preview
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Having managed to successfully stave off relegation at the end of last season, survival will be the ultimate goal for Dijon once again this time around.
Stephane Jobard's men ended their campaign in perfect fashion with a 2-1 victory over Toulouse before the French football season was abandoned - ending a five-game winless streak in doing so.
Les Hiboux are now gearing up for their fifth successive season of Ligue 1 football, and Dijon are welcoming Angers to a ground where they boast a remarkable recent record in the French top flight.
Indeed, Jobard's men have gone 12 games without defeat in the league on familiar territory, and Dijon have not failed to score at home in Ligue 1 since September.
As far as Dijon's pre-season is concerned, Les Hiboux enjoyed a 2-0 victory over Paris FC before a goalless stalemate with Sochaux, and Jobard then witnessed his side suffer defeats to Metz and most recently Lens.
Meanwhile, Angers managed to improve on their 13th-placed finish from the 2018-19 campaign as they secured 11th spot when the most recent season was abandoned.
Stephane Moulin's side enjoyed a terrific end to the campaign as they recorded consecutive victories over Montpellier, Brest and Nantes, but despite finishing one point better off than Strasbourg, Angers ended up placing below their rivals owing to the points-per-game system.
While several teams in the French top flight saw their pre-season plans affected by coronavirus outbreaks, Angers enjoyed an uninterrupted run of friendly matches and triumphed 1-0 over Saint-Etienne in their most recent outing.
The Angers faithful have every reason to be optimistic about a perfect start to their Ligue 1 campaign this weekend - Moulin's men have triumphed three times on the bounce against Dijon and have only ever lost to their opponents three times since 2004.
Team News
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Dijon have a number of absentees to contend with for their first game of the season, with goalkeeper Alfred Gomis fighting for the number one spot after several months out injured.
Yassine Benzia suffered a freak buggy accident during the shutdown and is nursing a hand injury, with the Algeria international likely to stay on the sidelines until 2021, and forward Mama Balde is also out with a thigh problem.
Jobard is also facing a quandary in defence with Senou Coulibaly unavailable, while fellow centre-back Nayef Aguerd has joined Rennes and right-back Mickael Alphonse has completed a move to Amiens.
Meanwhile, Angers boast a relatively clean bill of health for the opening weekend, although the club have recently announced that defender Rayan Ait Nouri has tested positive for coronavirus.
Club-record signing Paul Bernardoni, who arrived in an €8m (£7.2m) deal from Bordeaux, is in line to make his competitive debut in between the sticks for the visitors.
Dijon possible starting lineup:
Runarsson; Chafik, Manga, Lautoa, Muzinga; Ndong, Cheikh; Ebimbe, Sammaritano, Chouiar; Tavares
Angers possible starting lineup:
Bernardoni; Bamba, Traore, Thomas, Doumbia; Santamaria; Thioub, Fulgini, Mangani, Capelle; Bahoken
We say: Dijon 1-2 Angers
Both sides should feel confident of coming away from this tie with all three points - Dijon's home form has been nothing short of spectacular and Angers ended their pre-season strongly. However, the home side have several injuries to deal with for the opening weekend, and we expect Angers to pick up where they left off and prevail in a closely-fought battle on Saturday.
Top betting tip
Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting under 2.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Under 2.5:data
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 Dijon win with a probability of 37.83%. A win for Angers had a probability of 34.19% and a draw had a probability of 28%.
The most likely scoreline for a Dijon win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.56%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (7.97%) and 2-0 (7.01%). The likeliest Angers win was 0-1 (10.85%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.15%). The actual scoreline of 0-1 was predicted with a 10.9% likelihood.
