Early Ligue 1 pacesetters Nimes will be looking to build on their impressive opening-game victory when they take on Nantes at Stade de la Beaujoire on Sunday.
The Crocodiles stuffed Brest 4-0 last weekend to lead the way at the summit on goal difference, while Nantes played out a goalless draw at Bordeaux.
Match preview
Goals from Kevin Denkey, Birger Meling, Romain Philippoteaux and Moussa Kone gave Nimes a dream start to the 2020-21 campaign last time out.
As one of only four winners on the opening weekend of action, Jerome Arpinon's side sit top of the pile thanks to a superior goal difference on Lorient, Nice and Angers.
Staying anywhere near that position is highly unlikely, of course, with Nimes finishing the shortened 2019-20 season down in 18th place.
After narrowly avoiding the drop last time out, new boss Arpinon's aim this time around will be to ensure that Nimes remain in the top flight for another campaign.
However, the Crocodiles only won back-to-back matches once in the whole of last season and they have a poor away record, losing seven of their last eight on their travels.
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Nantes have won eight of their last 10 home matches against Nimes in Ligue 1, but they have won just one of their last nine home league games overall.
This is just their second game of the new campaign, though, and there were positives to take from last week's stalemate against Bordeaux, who had a man sent off in the first half.
The Canaries finished 13th on a points-per-game basis in 2019-20, winning just one of their last eight matches before the campaign was curtailed by the coronavirus crisis.
Scoring goals is proving to be an issue for them, having failed to find the net in their last three Ligue 1 matches - as many blanks as in their previous 14 games.
By comparison, opponents Nimes have scored in nine Ligue 1 matches in a row, which is their longest run since August-October 1979.
Nantes' Ligue 1 form: D
Nimes' Ligue 1 form: W
Team News
After making a full recovery from coronavirus to feature against Bordeaux last weekend, one or both of Ludovic Blas and Marcus Coco could start on Sunday.
Mehdi Abeid and Molla Wague played no part in Nantes' opening match and are not expected to feature versus table-topping Nimes.
Three of Nantes' 11 goals in Ligue 1 this calendar year have been goals scored by opponents, making 'own goal' their joint-top scorer in 2020.
As for the visitors, three of their players - Nolan Roux, Clement Depres and Anthony Briancon - recently tested positive for Covid-19 and remain doubtful.
Arpinon may therefore be tempted to go with an unchanged XI on the back of the comprehensive win over Brest.
Nantes possible starting lineup:
Lafont; Fabio, Girotto, Pallois, Traore; Blas, Chirivella; Bamba, Louza, Simon; Coulibaly
Nimes possible starting lineup:
Reynet; Ripart, Landre, Martinez, Meling; Deaux, Cubas; Ferhat, Benrahou, Philippoteaux; Denkey
We say: Nantes 0-1 Nimes
Nantes have a good home record against Nimes in recent times, but the visitors enter this game on a real high and, unlike their opponents, are able to find the net. With that in mind, we are backing Arpinon's men to edge this contest.
Top betting tip
Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting under 2.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Under 2.5:dataData 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 Nantes win with a probability of 58.63%. A draw had a probability of 22.5% and a win for Nimes had a probability of 18.87%.
The most likely scoreline for a Nantes win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.34%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (10.48%) and 2-1 (9.88%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.69%), while for a Nimes win it was 0-1 (5.79%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with a 9.9% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Nantes would win this match.
