Ligue 1 table-toppers Saint-Etienne will endeavour to secure their fourth victory from as many matches when they face off against Nantes on Sunday afternoon.
In contrast, Nantes fell to their first defeat of the season in gameweek three as Monaco overcame Christian Gourcuff's men 2-1 last weekend.
Match preview
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Nantes travelled to Monaco following a narrow 2-1 victory against Nimes in their second game of the season, and Christian Gourcuff must have been fearing the worst after Sofiane Diop opened the scoring for Monaco five minutes in.
Ludovic Blas was on hand to tap in at the far post to level the scores on the hour mark, but Willem Geubbels soon made an immediate impact off the bench as he won the game for Monaco just minutes after Blas had equalised for the visitors.
Gourcuff would have no doubt been devastated to lose in that manner, but Monaco could have easily scored at least three or four more on the day, so Nantes will be thankful that their goal difference did not take a major hit in their first loss of the campaign.
Nantes are one of only two sides to have recorded a win, a draw and a loss from their opening three games - the other being Lyon - but Les Canaris would do well to come away with something to show for their efforts against a high-flying Saint-Etienne side this weekend.
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Before a ball was kicked in Saint-Etienne's midweek showdown with Marseille, one thing was certain - one of the two sides would occupy top spot by the close of play on Thursday evening.
Saint-Etienne and Marseille had both recorded two victories from two in the early stages of the 2020-21 campaign, but it was the visitors who came up trumps courtesy of goals from Romain Hamouma – his third in as many matches – and Denis Bouanga.
Claude Puel's men are currently leading the way after three matches having taken maximum points thus far – scoring six and conceding none along the way - a clean sheet tally that only Bordeaux can also boast.
However, second-placed Rennes and third-placed Monaco are set to lock horns on Saturday, and should there be a winner and a loser in that game, Saint-Etienne will be temporarily knocked off their perch before they take to the field on Sunday.
Saint-Etienne have only lost two of the previous 15 meetings with Nantes, but Puel's men will not have fond memories of their most recent clash with Les Canaris, where they succumbed to a 2-0 defeat in front of their own fans.
Nantes Ligue 1 form: DWL
Saint-Etienne Ligue 1 form: WWW
Team News
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Nantes will welcome defender Fabio back to the fold after serving a one-match suspension, and the former Manchester United man is in contention to slot right back into the defence in place of Dennis Appiah.
However, Gourcuff will have do make do without Imran Louza, who is serving the second of his two-game ban following his sending off alongside Fabio in the victory over Nimes.
Marcus Coco will be looking to overcome a minor knee problem in time to start on the right-hand side of the Nantes attack, while Randal Kolo Muani could start up top again in the absence of Kalifa Coulibaly.
As far as Saint-Etienne are concerned, captain Mathieu Debuchy had to be forced off after just nine minutes against Marseille, leaving Puel in a predicament when it comes to right-sided defensive options.
Yvann Macon is a right-back by trade but has impressed on the left hand side in the absence of Miguel Trauco and Gabriel Silva, so Alpha Sissoko could be handed his first league start in Saint-Etienne colours.
Nantes possible starting lineup:
Lafont; Fabio, Girotto, Pallois, Traore; Toure, Chirivella; Coco, Blas, Simon; Kolo Muani
Saint-Etienne possible starting lineup:
Moulin; Sissoko, Fofana, Kolodziejczak, Macon; Neyou, Youssouf; Nordin, Aouchiche, Bouanga, Hamouma
We say: Nantes 1-3 Saint-Etienne
Saint-Etienne have been buoyed by their stellar victory over Marseille and will be determined to keep this strong run of form going, but Nantes are not to be underestimated in any circumstance. That being said, we are still backing Puel's men to extend their winning streak and remain top of the pile after gameweek four, albeit without a clean sheet this time.
Top betting tip
Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting a double chance bet on a home win or draw 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.Home/Draw:data
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 Nantes win with a probability of 51.54%. A draw had a probability of 24.4% and a win for Saint-Etienne had a probability of 24.04%.
The most likely scoreline for a Nantes win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.04%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.62%) and 2-0 (9.16%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.6%), while for a Saint-Etienne win it was 0-1 (7%). The actual scoreline of 2-2 was predicted with a 5.1% likelihood.
