Nantes will aim to continue their impressive start to proceedings in the 2021-22 Ligue 1 season when they travel to the Stade de la Mosson on Sunday to take on Montpellier HSC.
Olivier Dall'Oglio's side went down 3-1 to Monaco last weekend, while Les Canaris marched to a 2-1 victory over newly-promoted Clermont.
Match preview
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Montpellier were unaware that they had purchased tickets to the Kevin Volland show as they made the journey to the Stade Louis II last weekend, as the German striker made his presence known in the opening 45 minutes of Monaco's 3-1 win.
Volland opened the scoring in the 12th minute of the encounter before his delightful outside-of-the-foot pass for Wissam Ben Yedder's header five minutes later, and Gelson Martins would wrap up the win for Monaco before Teji Savanier's late consolation from the penalty spot.
Yet another miserable away day for Montpellier sees them sit 13th in the rankings after 11 matches, with La Paillade demonstrating the goalscoring touch that was expected under Dall'Oglio but failing to keep things tight in their defensive third.
It is now just one win in their last six Ligue 1 matches for Montpellier, who face a challenging run of fixtures with Nice, Rennes and Lyon in November, so Dall'Oglio's side must harness the energy from their solid home run before pitting their wits against the big boys next month.
While their away form is the second-worst in the division above basement boys Saint-Etienne, Montpellier have strung together a five-game unbeaten run on home soil and have struck an average of two goals per game at the Stade de la Mosson since the start of the season.
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During a bad-tempered first half which saw red cards brandished out to both teams, Nantes took advantage of Johan Gastien's dismissal for Clermont to draw first blood through Andrei Girotto before Sebastien Corchia was given his marching orders less than a minute later.
Mohamed Bayo levelled the scores four minutes after the restart, but Randal Kolo Muani and Ludovic Blas linked up for the latter to fire home the winning goal in the 61st minute and keep Nantes' hot streak going under Antoine Kombouare.
Les Canaris have now taken seven points from their last three Ligue 1 fixtures to rise to seventh in the table - just one point behind fifth-placed Rennes and three behind Nice in third - and they have truly laid down a marker with four wins from their last six in the division.
The signs of progress were evident during the final knockings of the 2020-21 season, but Nantes have nonetheless struggled for consistency away from home, winning just once in five on the road this term and failing to keep a clean sheet in that time.
Montpellier did beat Nantes 2-1 in the most recent meeting between the two clubs back in May, but their home form against Les Canaris is worrying, as they have drawn two and lost three on familiar territory across all competitions in this fixture since 2016.
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Team News
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Montpellier midfielder Jordan Ferri should slot straight back in over Leo Leroy after returning from a suspension, while Savanier is banned for the trip to Nice but is available here.
The hosts lost right-back Junior Sambia to a knee injury just after the hour mark against Monaco, and while he has returned to training, Arnaud Souquet is ready to deputise if need be.
Thuler and Pedro Mendes both remain absent for Dall'Oglio, who withdrew Nicolas Cozza for Mihailo Ristic at half time last weekend and could be tempted to field the latter from the off here.
Nantes defender Corchia has been slapped with a two-game ban following his red card against Clermont, while Fabio will also miss out due to an accumulation of bookings.
Dennis Appiah and Charles Traore should therefore fill in at right and left-back respectively for Nantes, who should otherwise name a settled XI for the weekend's showdown.
Willem Geubbels, Osman Bukari and Quentin Merlin continue their spells out of action for the visitors, but Kombouare has no fresh injury concerns to work around from the win over Clermont.
Montpellier HSC possible starting lineup:
Omlin; Souquet, Sakho, Esteve, Cozza; Ferri, Chotard; Mollet, Savanier, Mavididi; Germain
Nantes possible starting lineup:
Lafont; Appiah, Castelletto, Pallois, Traore; Chirivella, Girotto, Pereira de Sa; Blas, Kolo Muani, Simon
We say: Montpellier HSC 1-1 Nantes
While Montpellier just cannot hack it away from home, their resilient nature at the Stade de la Mosson should serve them well against a Nantes side who have not got going on the road this term.
The last two fixtures between these sides on Montpellier's turf have ended 1-1, and we can envisage a third two-goal stalemate in succession this weekend.
Top tip
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 Montpellier HSC win with a probability of 39.84%. A win for Nantes had a probability of 33.25% and a draw had a probability of 26.9%.
The most likely scoreline for a Montpellier HSC win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.8%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.44%) and 2-0 (7.14%). The likeliest Nantes win was 0-1 (9.67%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.77%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with a 7.1% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Montpellier HSC would win this match.
