Lorient will be aiming to move out of the Ligue 1 bottom three when they travel to Angers on Sunday.
The Brittany-based side are on a run of three straight defeats and sit in 18th, while their opponents beat Lens 3-1 last weekend to move up to eighth.
Match preview
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Lorient were beaten 1-0 by Montpellier last weekend, meaning that they have neither won nor scored in any of their last five games.
Only Nimes and Dijon have netted fewer goals across the whole season than Les Murlus, who count former Angers forward Yoane Wissa in their attacking ranks.
Half of their 12 goals this season have come in their only two wins – 3-1 victories against Strasbourg and Reims.
Survival is very much the aim this season for Christophe Pelissier's team, who were promoted as champions of Ligue 2 in 2019-20.
They travel to an Angers side who are looking to win back-to-back games for the first time this campaign.
Goals from Mathias Pereira Lage, Stephane Bahoken and Pierrick Capelle earned Les Scoistes all three points against Lens last weekend, but they have followed up all their previous victories this season with a defeat.
Nonetheless, they have risen to eighth in the Ligue 1 table and are only four points away from a Europa League spot.
However Stephane Moulin's side must improve defensively if they are to achieve a top-half finish for the first time since 2015-16, as they have not kept a clean sheet since mid-September and only Strasbourg and Brest have conceded more goals in the league this season.
Angers Ligue 1 form: DWLWLW
Lorient Ligue 1 form: WLDLLL
Team News
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Sada Thioub missed Angers' win over Lens due to a knee sprain and has not trained at all this week, so is expected to be absent again.
While Sofiane Boufal is fit again, Stephane Moulin may go with the same team that won at Stade Bollaert-Delelis as he tries to build some momentum.
It has been confirmed that Lorient right-back Houboulang Mendes will miss the next two months with a knee injury, but veteran Jonathan Delaplace is fit again to return in that position.
Striker Adrian Grbic has not scored in his last nine appearances, so Christophe Pelissier may turn to either Terem Moffi or Pierre-Yves Hamel in an attempt to improve his team's attacking output.
Angers possible starting lineup:
Bernadoni; Manceau, Traore, Thomas, Doumbia; Amadou, Mangani; Cabot, Fulgini, Lage; Bahoken
Lorient possible starting lineup:
Nardi; Delaplace, Laporte, Gravillon, Goff; Chalobah, Abergel; Lauriente, Boisgard, Wissa; Hamel
We say: Angers 3-1 Lorient
Both teams have particularly leaky defences, which could lead to a very open game full of chances – and perhaps a first Lorient goal in six matches. We are backing Angers for the win due to the quality of their attacking talent and their home advantage.
Top betting tip
Olly Allen
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 Angers win with a probability of 38.72%. A win for Lorient had a probability of 32.67% and a draw had a probability of 28.6%.
The most likely scoreline for an Angers win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.43%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (7.91%) and 2-0 (7.4%). The likeliest Lorient win was 0-1 (11.16%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.28%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with a 7.4% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Angers would win this match.
