Lens will welcome Strasbourg on Wednesday, aiming to continue their unbeaten start to the Ligue 1 campaign, which has seen them rise to third position and accumulate 12 points so far this season.
Strasbourg have had a steady start to the season, collecting seven points which sees them occupy 12th place.
Match preview
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Lens impressed last season in their first season back in Ligue 1 since 2015, when they finished in seventh, and this term they have continued where they left off.
They are yet to taste defeat this season and have won three of their first six matches, with the most recent of those coming at the weekend when they hosted Lille.
In that fixture, there was only one goal and that came Lens' way in the 74th minute when Przemyslaw Frankowski scored his first goal of the season to clinch all three points for his side.
Although they are yet to lose, the only disappointment for Sang et Or is that they have only won one home game in the league this season having been held to two draws by Saint-Etienne and Lorient.
Overall, head coach Franck Haise will be pleased with the start to the season, and he will be focusing on beating Strasbourg - a team they lost at home to last season courtesy of a 1-0 scoreline.
Positively, they did win the last meeting between the two back in March, when they won 2-1 away at Strasbourg with Seko Fofana getting the winner, and the 26-year-old will look to add to his three goals so far this season when he plays on Wednesday.
Lens will be confident of finding the net in this encounter having scored in every Ligue 1 game this term, which demonstrates how clinical they are in front of goal.
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Strasbourg will be content with their start to the season, having earned two victories so far, and they will look to add a third on Wednesday.
They demonstrated they can find the net scoring 10 goals this season, but head coach Julien Stephan will be concerned about how leaky his defence is, having conceded 11 goals this campaign.
Another concern for the Strasbourg boss is his side are the only team in Ligue 1 yet to collect an away point this term, although the fixture list has not been kind to Les Coureurs, who have lost to Paris Saint-Germain and Lyon in their only two away games this season.
On a positive note, Strasbourg enter the fixture on Wednesday off the back of a resounding 3-0 win over Metz, with Ludovic Ajorque scoring a penalty and Habib Diallo grabbing a brace.
Strasbourg have only failed to score in one game this season and that was an opening-day 2-0 defeat to Angers, so they will be confident of finding the net on Wednesday.
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Team News
Lens will have to do without Corentin Jean, who is out with a thigh injury.
Haise would have been relieved to have had Cheick Oumar Doucoure back last time out after the midfielder served a two-match suspension and Massadio Haidara also returned to the squad having been out injured, but he remained on the bench for the duration of the Lille encounter.
Having emerged victorious last time out, an unchanged team could start on Wednesday.
Strasbourg have some injury absentees, including the duo of Lebo Mothiba and Moise Sahi Dion.
Ibrahima Sissoko is also still out with a knee problem that has seen him miss the last three fixtures.
Stephan brought Diallo into the starting lineup against Metz and his decision was vindicated with the striker scoring twice, and he will start once again against Lens.
Lens possible starting lineup:
Leca; Gradit, Danso, Medina; Clauss, Doucoure, Fofana, Frankowski; Sotoca, Kalimuendo, Kakuta
Strasbourg possible starting lineup:
Sels; Guilbert, Djiku, Nyamsi, Le Marchand, Lienard; Thomasson, Aholou, Bellegarde; Diallo, Ajorque
We say: Lens 2-1 Strasbourg
Lens have been phenomenal this season, and they will put their undefeated record on the line on Wednesday, but we think the hosts will have too much quality for the visitors and Lens should continue their unbeaten run.
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 Lens win with a probability of 53.61%. A draw had a probability of 24.6% and a win for Strasbourg had a probability of 21.76%.
The most likely scoreline for a Lens win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.35%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (10.12%) and 2-1 (9.58%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.69%), while for a Strasbourg win it was 0-1 (7.14%). The actual scoreline of 0-1 was predicted with a 7.1% likelihood.
