Nantes will fight to keep their hopes of continental knockout football alive on Thursday, when they host Qarabag FK in the penultimate round of Europa League group-stage fixtures.
The French outfit have picked up just three points from their four games thus far and sit four points behind their opponents, who will guarantee a place at least in the Europa Conference League round of 16 if they avoid a defeat.
Match preview
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Nantes find themselves back in continental action this season after winning their first major trophy since 2001 last term, beating Nice to win the Coupe de France and guarantee a place in the Europa League group stage.
They made a positive start with a 2-1 win over Olympiacos in the opening round of fixtures, thanks to Evann Guessand's 93rd-minute winner, but they have been unable to add to their points tally in three attempts since, while also struggling on the domestic front.
The following two games ended in 3-0 and 2-0 defeats to Thursday's opponents and Freiburg respectively, before they took on the latter in their most recent group contest and fell to a 4-0 thrashing on home turf as Lukas Kubler, Michael Gregoritsch and Jeong Woo-yeong all got on the scoresheet alongside a Jean-Charles Castelletto own goal.
Antoine Kombouare's side also managed just seven points in their opening 10 Ligue 1 games but were then able to jump out of the relegation zone with a 4-1 beating of Brest after the heavy loss to Freiburg, thanks to goals from Moses Simon, Ignatius Ganago, Mostafa Mohamed and Moussa Sissoko, before a 97th-minute Nicolas Pepe penalty saw them cruelly denied all three points in an eventual 1-1 draw with Nice last time out.
Now only able to finish second with wins in both of their final two games, if Qarabag also suffer two defeats, Nantes will be desperate to stay in the fight with a home win on Thursday.
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Their visitors, meanwhile, will make the trip looking to cement a top-two finish while potentially keeping their hopes of a Europa League round-of-16 place alive.
The Azerbaijani outfit dropped into Europe's secondary competition after losing narrowly to Viktoria Plzen in the Champions League playoff round, and after a losing start against Freiburg, they put their first points on the board with the 3-0 beating of Thursday's hosts thanks to goals from Owusu Kwabena, Abdellah Zoubir and Marko Jankovic.
Gurban Gurbanov's side would strengthen their place in the top two with a 3-0 triumph away at Olympiacos, as Kwabena was again on the scoresheet alongside Marko Vesovic and Ramil Sheydayev before taking another point from the reverse fixture on home turf in their latest continental outing.
They are now on the back of consecutive league triumphs to extend their perfect domestic record to 10 wins from 10 top-flight outings in their bid for a 10th Azerbaijani title, most recently beating Turan 3-0 last Thursday thanks to goals from Kwabena, Sheydayev and Filip Ozobic.
Returning to continental action with a four-point lead over their French hosts, Gurbanov's side will know that if they avoid a defeat on Thursday, they are guaranteed a knockout place, likely in the form of a drop into the Europa Conference League, while a victory could keep their fight for top spot alive if league leaders Freiburg suffer a defeat in their game.
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Team News
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Although Kader Bamba and Alban Lafont were both shown red cards in Nantes' eventual draw with Nice at the weekend, they will both be eligible to play on Thursday with the suspensions instead carrying over to the next league game, and Lafont remains a key man in net and will don the captain's armband.
Following the summer departure of key forward Randal Kolo Muani, Mostafa Mohamed and Ignatius Ganago have battled to lead the line, and the latter should start for the Qarabag contest after opening the scoring against Nice last time out, taking his tally to three goals in seven Ligue 1 appearances for the club after arriving from Lens.
Fellow summer arrival Moussa Sissoko, who boasts over 70 caps for the French national team, will continue to play a crucial role in midfield, likely alongside Pedro Chirivella and Samuel Moutoussamy.
Qarabag have several attacking threats to trouble their hosts, with Ramil Sheydayev topping their scoring charts with 11 goals and four assists in all competitions so far this season, including 10 goals in 10 league games.
He will again be joined in attack by Owusu Kwabena, who has hit the net in four of the last five games in which he has started across league and continental action.
Shahrudin Mahammadaliyev, who played in net in each of their first four group matches, missed the recent Turan game through injury, and Luka Gugeshashvili should operate between the sticks in his absence.
Nantes possible starting lineup:
Lafont; Appiah, Girotto, Pallios, Merlin; Chirivella, Sissoko, Moutoussamy; Blas, Ganago, Simon
Qarabag FK possible starting lineup:
Gugeshashvili; Vesovic, Mustafazada, Guseynov, Cafarguliyev; Qarayev, Richard; Kady, Zoubir; Sheydayev, Kwabena
We say: Nantes 1-1 Qarabag FK
Qarabag have certainly been the more impressive of the two sides in the group stage thus far, but we do not see them picking up all three points in France, instead opting for a low-scoring draw.
The hosts are far from their best this season and we do not anticipate them having enough to better the Azerbaijani champions and keep the fight for second place alive.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Sam Varley
