Nice head into Sunday's fixture with Lorient looking to end a run of four games without success in Ligue 1.
At a time when the home side have recently dropped into fifth position in the standings, Lorient are four points clear of the relegation zone with seven matches remaining.
Match preview
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Up until the latter stages of January, Nice looked like a side that were capable of finishing in second position behind runaway leaders Paris Saint-Germain.
However, just two victories have been recorded from their last nine outings, while Christophe Galtier's team have not posted a victory since defeating PSG back on March 5.
With the gap to third-placed Rennes still only five points, Les Aiglons will feel that they can still secure a spot in the Champions League qualifiers for next season.
That said, despite drawing 1-1 with their rivals at the start of this month, last weekend's 3-0 reverse at Lens means that Nice have no momentum heading into this contest.
In total, Nice have conceded six times in just three matches, although they still possess the best defensive record in the division.
From Lorient's perspective, they will fancy their chances of causing the upset in the South of France after putting together an improved string of results since the start of February.
As many as 14 points have come from their last nine fixtures, the most recent of their four victories during that period coming by a 6-2 scoreline against Saint-Etienne last time out.
After losing 5-1 at PSG and then going 2-0 down in that fixture, Lorient remarkably scored six goals between the 42nd and 89th minutes, helping by their opponents being reduced to 10 men with a quarter of the game still remaining.
More than half of Terem Moffi's seven league strikes have been scored in his last four outings, and the 22-year-old has a key part to play if Christophe Pelissier's team are to remain in the top flight.
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Team News
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Nice will have to make do without Dante and Mario Lemina after the duo were sent off against Lens.
Flavius Daniliuc and Khephren Thurman-Ulien are expected to be drafted into the defence and midfield respectively.
Jordan Lotomba is also on standby to deputise for Youcef Atal with the right-back having suffered an injury last week.
Pelissier may be prepared to stick with the Lorient XI which showed resolve to fight back to thrash Saint-Etienne.
Even if Bonke Innocent and Stephane Diarra recover from injury in time for this contest, the pair are likely to be named on the substitutes' bench.
Nice possible starting lineup:
Benitez; Lotomba, Daniliuc, Todibo, Amavi; Kluivert, Rosario, Thuram-Ulien, Gouiri; Dolberg, Delort
Lorient possible starting lineup:
Dreyer; Mendes, Laporte, Petrot, Goff; Fee, Monconduit, Abergel; Moffi, Kone, Lauriente
We say: Nice 2-0 Lorient
After losing their way recently, Nice are not as clear-cut favourites for this game as you would necessarily. Nevertheless, we still expect the home side to get back on track, maybe with a goal in each half and a clean sheet to boot.
Top tip
Darren Plant
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 Nice win with a probability of 59.54%. A draw had a probability of 22.4% and a win for Lorient had a probability of 18.07%.
The most likely scoreline for a Nice win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.71%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (10.84%) and 2-1 (9.86%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.65%), while for a Lorient win it was 0-1 (5.75%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with a 9.9% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that Nice would win this match.
