Lens will be hoping to put their crushing defeat to Lille behind them when they welcome Nantes to the Stade Bollaert-Delelis for Sunday's Ligue 1 encounter.
In contrast, the visitors are looking to win their second game on the bounce following a much-needed 3-1 victory over Brest in gameweek seven.
Match preview
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Lens have exceeded expectations in the early stages of the 2020-21 campaign and currently occupy a spot in the top five, but the cracks may be starting to show for the newly-promoted side.
Prior to last week's showdown with Lille, Lens had marched to victory in four of their previous five top-flight matches - including impressive triumphs over Bordeaux, Saint-Etienne and Paris Saint-Germain - but Franck Haise's men were simply outclassed by Lille as the table-toppers stormed to a 4-0 victory over their fellow high-flyers.
Sang et Or's cause was not helped by Jonathan Gradit and Clement Michelin both seeing red in the second period, with Burak Yilmaz, Jonathan Ikone, Jonathan Bamba and Yusuf Yazici all helping themselves to goals against the nine men of Lens, and Haise will be praying that this is not the beginning of a downward spiral for last season's Ligue 2 runners-up.
However, while Lens must also navigate a taxing showdown against Champions League contenders Marseille before the end of the month, Haise's men can look forward to fixtures against two struggling sides in Reims and Dijon following Sunday's visit of Nantes, who do not have much to shout about themselves.
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With Nantes enduring a bad spell of form and Brest looking to win their fourth game in five matches, Christian Gourcuff's men would have been expecting a fight as they welcomed the in-form Pirates to the Stade de la Beaujoire last Sunday.
However, Les Canaris managed to pick up just their second win of the season as Randal Kolo Muani, Ludovic Blas and Abdoul Kader Bamba all found the back of the net in a 3-1 victory for Nantes, who have lifted themselves up to 15th in the table with that triumph.
While Gourcuff will be buoyed by his side's win in gameweek seven, Nantes must not get ahead of themselves and cannot underestimate a Lens outfit who have given a terrific account of themselves this season, despite the manner of their humbling defeat to Lille.
Nevertheless, Les Canaris will certainly be motivated to pick up a second straight victory this weekend before they take on an in-form PSG side on Halloween - an appropriate date for a frightening fixture that Gourcuff's men would do extremely well to take something from.
Sunday's clash represents the first meeting between Lens and Nantes since the 2014-15 Ligue 1 campaign, where both sides enjoyed 1-0 victories on their own turfs.
Lens Ligue 1 form: WWWDWL
Nantes Ligue 1 form: WLDLLW
Team News
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Gradit and Michelin have both been handed two-match suspensions after being made to take the walk of shame against Lille, although Facundo Medina returns from a suspension of his own to come back into the heart of defence.
Ignatius Ganago and Gael Kakuta have notched up eight of Sang et Or's 10 league goals thus far, but the former is set to miss out again here with a sprained ankle.
Cheick Traore and Seko Fofana both remain on the treatment table for the hosts, while Steven Fortes is struggling with a hip issue.
As far as Nantes are concerned, Mali international Charles Traore is back from a period of self-isolation, but Anthony Limbombe remains sidelined through injury.
Centre-back Andrei Girotto should come back in to partner Nicolas Pallois in the heart of defence after serving a suspension, while Moses Simon will be holding out for a recall to the left-hand side.
However, Fabio and Kalifa Coulibaly have returned positive coronavirus tests, while Jean-Kevin Augustin and Pedro Chirivella are sidelined through injury.
Lens possible starting lineup:
Leca; Medina, Bade, Radovanovic; Clauss, Cahuzac, Doucoure, Haidara; Kakuta; Sotoca, Jean
Nantes possible starting lineup:
Lafont; Corchia, Girotto, Pallois, Traore; Abeid, Toure; Louza, Blas, Simon; Kolo Muani
We say: Lens 2-2 Nantes
Lens will be desperate to prove that their thrashing at the hands of Lille was a mere one-off as they look to further establish themselves in Ligue 1, but Nantes are equally determined to show that they are on the right track following that much-needed win over Brest. This is poised to be an interesting affair at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis - one which we ultimately expect to finish all square.
Top betting tip
Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting a double chance bet on a home win or an away win 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.Home/Away:dataData 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 Lens win with a probability of 40.55%. A win for Nantes had a probability of 30.9% and a draw had a probability of 28.5%.
The most likely scoreline for a Lens win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.86%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.1%) and 2-0 (7.87%). The likeliest Nantes win was 0-1 (10.82%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.23%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with a 13.2% likelihood.
