Nantes will look to extend their unbeaten start to 2025 when they face Brest at the Stade de la Beaujoire in Ligue 1 on Friday.
Ahead of the quick turnaround from the league phase to the playoffs in the Champions League, Brest will prepare for another showdown against Paris Saint-Germain with this trip to the relegation-threatened Canaries.
Match preview
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After four draws to start the year, Nantes extended their unbeaten run in 2025 to five matches with a vital 2-1 win away at Reims last weekend.
Runaway leaders PSG are the only other side still unbeaten in Ligue 1 since the turn of the year, with Antoine Kombouare's team putting together a run of just one defeat in eight, relieving the pressure on their previously under-fire manager.
Nantes still need more wins to move away from trouble at the bottom though, as they are just one point above a Rennes side that have spent €85m (£70m) in January, and will hope that translates into points in the table.
There is a three-point gap between the Canaries and Saint-Etienne, who occupy the relegation playoff spot, while Montpellier and Le Havre continue to slip further into trouble.
Form at home has been sub-par for Nantes this season, but they are so often on the wrong end of narrow defeats and draws, because despite taking just 10 points from their nine games at the Beaujoire this season, they have scored in eight of them, and conceded only 12.
Upcoming opponents Brest are not the most welcome of guests though, given that Nantes have failed to win any of the previous five head-to-heads - losing four, scoring twice and conceding 10.
Brest's rapid rise as a club has coincided with better results in this fixture too, with four wins in their last five against Nantes matching the number of victories they managed in the 24 previous meetings.
That rise was illustrated last week, when Brest were in the draw for the Champions League knockout stages, where they were paired with PSG, to much disappointment.
Brest's record against PSG is dreadful, and it has also robbed them of the chance of playing another of Europe's foreign elite, as opposed to a tie that will feel more like a Ligue 1 fixture played over two legs.
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To make matters worse, PSG gained a huge psychological edge ahead of that tie by beating Eric Roy's side 5-2 last weekend in the league.
Brest's drop off this season can be attributed to their defensive numbers faltering, because Roy's side let in just 34 last season, contributing to them having the joint-third-best defence, but they have already conceded more this season after just 20 games (36), resulting in the Pirates conceding more goals than any club outside the relegation zone in Ligue 1.
While Brest will now not need to face the champions-elect again in the league, the result left them seven points adrift of the top four, but reaching Europe again is not beyond them, because Lyon in seventh are just two points ahead of them.
Playing in the weekend's first fixture allows Brest to put the pressure on Lyon, because a win here will move them up into that top seven, and a 2-1 win in the Coupe de France last 16 against Troyes on Tuesday served to regain some confidence lost by the heavy defeat to PSG.
Having won back-to-back away games in Ligue 1, Brest could make it three in a row for the first time in 14 months, when their third win in that particular sequence also came at Nantes.
Team News
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The Nantes support will hope to see debuts for their two new signings here, after Francis Coquelin and Meschack Elia joined late in the window from Villarreal and Young Boys respectively.
Nicolas Pallois is suspended for the hosts due to his accumulation of yellow cards, while further forward, Tino Kadewere, Douglas Augusto and Nathan Zeze are all out injured.
Alban Lafont and Fabien Centonze have dropped out the squad recently but were not moved on in the transfer window, unlike Jean-Philippe Gbamin, who completed a permanent move to Zurich this week.
The majority of Brest's injuries remain in defensive areas, despite the recent return of Julien Le Cardinal, with full-back trio Jordan Amavi, Massadio Haidara and Bradley Locko sidelined.
Midfielder Mahdi Camara is banned while Jonas Martin is still recovering from a muscle problem at present, with a return not likely until later this month.
Roy has frequently rotated his side this season, especially around Champions League games, and the same could happen again here, but he has not settled on a particular XI for Europe, with numerous changes being made to both squads.
Nantes possible starting lineup:
Lopes; Amian, Castelletto, Sow, Cozza; Pedro Chirivella, Lepenant; Coco, Mohamed, Simon; Abline
Brest possible starting lineup:
Bizot; Lala, Chardonnet, Coulibaly, Zogbe; Lees-Melou, Magnetti, Faivre; Del Castillo, Ajorque, Sima
We say: Nantes 1-1 Brest
Brest beat Nantes in the last 32 of the Coupe recently, but with much focus now set to be on the upcoming Champions League playoff against PSG, manager Roy could be tempted to rotate, to the detriment of their chances here.
Nantes have become draw specialists of late, and even though they earned a win against Reims last weekend, Brest should provide a sterner challenge in a rare draw for them - no club in Europe's top-10 leagues have drawn as few this season (one).
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Andrew Delaney
