Lorient and Reims will be out to confirm their Ligue 1 survival when they go head to head at the Stade du Moustoir on Sunday afternoon.
The hosts were on the receiving end of a thumping defeat last weekend to leave them dangerously close to the drop zone, whilst the visitors were narrowly beaten on home soil against second-placed Marseille.
Match preview
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Although Lorient were not expected to get a result at high-flying Rennes last weekend, manager Christophe Pelissier will have been expecting a better performance from his side.
After falling two goals behind following an early quickfire double from their hosts, Lorient never recovered, and despite Rennes having Nayef Aguerd sent off with the scoreline at 3-0 shortly before the hour mark, two further late goals from the 10 men condemned them to a humbling 5-0 defeat.
However, thanks to fellow relegation candidates Saint-Etienne, Bordeaux, Metz and Troyes all suffering losses too, Lorient's disappointing display and performance went unpunished.
As a result, Les Merlus maintained their healthy seven-point gap over Bordeaux in the automatic drop zone, and three-point advantage over Saint-Etienne in the relegation playoff spot.
With a difficult task against Marseille to follow the encounter with Reims on Sunday, Pelissier will be eager for their advantage to be extended against the latter.
A victory for his side, and defeat for Les Girondins, would seal their survival from automatic relegation, and following back-to-back victories at the Stade du Moustoir, the hosts will take plenty of confidence with them into the crucial clash in front of their own supporters, despite a thumping last time out.
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Meanwhile, despite being edged out by a late Gerson goal in the 1-0 defeat at home to Marseille last Sunday, Reims head to Lorient with survival all but confirmed.
Having reached the 40-point mark with victory over Lille a few days earlier, Sunday's visitors have confirmed their survival from automatic relegation, and built up a healthy nine-point advantage over Les Verts in the playoff spot too.
A positive result at the weekend would confirm their overall safety depending on results elsewhere, thus ensuring a fifth successive season in the French top flight.
Manager Oscar Garcia will be keen to put this disappointing season behind them ahead of a fresh start in the 2022-23 campaign, when Les Rouges et Blancs will look to return to the previous successful seasons in which they fought in the top half of the table following promotion from Ligue 2.
However, current focus will remain on a strongest finish possible to the current season, with the immediate attention being turned to Sunday's encounter against an opponent that they have failed to beat since 2015, with five successive defeats only being ended by the goalless draw back at the Stade Auguste Delaune in September.
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Team News
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After missing out once again at Rennes last weekend, Stephane Diarra and Jeremy Morel should again remain unavailable for Lorient on Sunday due to muscle and calf injuries respectively.
Despite being forced off in the opening 45 in the 5-0 defeat, Bonke Innocent is expected to be available for the hosts in the centre of midfield.
The Nigerian should therefore take his place alongside Thomas Monconduit once more, who returned from a one-game absence to start in the midfield trio.
As for the visitors, Jens Cajuste, Fraser Hornby, Anastasios Donis and Hugo Ekitike could all remain sidelined once more.
The latter in particular continues to be a big miss for Reims, with the 19-year-old having netted nine Ligue 1 goals in just 14 starts this season, before a hamstring injury ruled him out of the last two months.
Were the striker to miss out once again, the goalscoring responsibilities could fall on the shoulders of Arber Zeneli and Mitchell van Bergen, despite neither having found the back of the net this campaign.
Lorient possible starting lineup:
Dreyer; Mendes, Laporte, Petrot, Le Goff; Monconduit, Innocent, Abergel; Moffi, Kone, Le Fee
Reims possible starting lineup:
Rajkovic; Foket, Gravillon, Faes, Abdelhamid, Konan; Lopy, Matusiwa, Munetsi; Van Bergen, Zeneli
We say: Lorient 1-0 Reims
With goals not being either of these sides' strong point this season, it is difficult to see this being an open and entertaining encounter on Sunday.
Lorient are finishing the campaign strongly at home, and with the hosts requiring the points more desperately in these closing stages of the campaign, we can see them nicking a narrow victory to boost their survival hopes further.
Top tip
Matthew Tranter
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 Lorient win with a probability of 46.52%. A draw had a probability of 27.2% and a win for Reims had a probability of 26.32%.
The most likely scoreline for a Lorient win was 1-0 with a probability of 13.09%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (9.1%) and 2-1 (8.85%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.73%), while for a Reims win it was 0-1 (9.17%). The actual scoreline of 1-2 was predicted with a 6.2% likelihood.
