Nice will take on Toulouse at the Allianz Riviera on Saturday afternoon, seeking their first points of the 2024-25 Ligue 1 season.
The hosts fell to a 2-1 defeat to Auxerre in their opening game of the campaign, while the visitors recorded a 0-0 draw with Nantes in their first match.
Match preview
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Nice have been extremely inconsistent in the past five seasons in Ligue 1, recording a fifth-place finish in 2019-20, followed by ninth, fifth, ninth and fifth again in 2023-24.
While they will be pleased with their fifth-place finish last year, securing a return to Europa League football for this campaign, they will be disappointed after the fantastic start they had.
The Eaglets remained unbeaten after 13 league fixtures and found themselves second in Ligue 1 after 21 matches, suffering just four losses in that time.
However, they won just four of their remaining 13 outings, losing a further five and drawing four, leaving them to fall down the table and into fifth place.
Francesco Farioli departed at the end of the campaign in favour of Ajax, with Franck Haise taking charge, and the new boss has had a dismal start to life at Nice.
The club lost two and won just one of their three friendly games under his management during pre-season, before suffering a 2-1 defeat to newly-promoted Auxerre in their opening league game.
Haise will be desperate for his team to record a victory in this match against Toulouse, but the Les Violets could prove to be a challenging opponent.
The visitors have impressed in the two campaigns since earning their promotion back into the top flight with a Ligue 2 title in 2021-22, finishing 13th and winning the Coupe de France in 2022-23 and placing 11th last year.
Carles Martinez's side had a positive pre-season, winning three and losing just one of their six friendly games, but they were unable to get off to a winning start in the league.
Despite a dominant performance against Nantes on the opening day, creating 1.71xG compared to their opponents' 0.47xG, they were unable to break the deadlock, leaving them to share the spoils.
Martinez will now be aiming to pick up his side's first win of the campaign against a team they beat in their most recent encounter, winning 2-1 at home in March.
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Team News
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The hosts will be without Gaetan Laborde, who has broken his foot in training and will be out until November, and Terem Moffi, who is still recovering from a cruciate ligament injury that will keep him out until April, leaving them with few options to start up front.
Youssouf Ndayishimiye and Melvin Bard will be back available for this game, while Jeremie Boga could also make a return to the squad to face Toulouse.
The visitors have just one injury concern for Saturday's match with Shavy Babicka in a race for fitness having returned to training after a sprained ankle injury in recent weeks.
Frank Magri is expected to continue to lead the line for Toulouse, replacing last season's top scorer Thijs Dallinga, who departed for Bologna during the summer window.
Nice possible starting lineup:
Bulka; Mendy, Rosario, Dante; Clauss, Boudaoui, Ndombele, Bard; Cho, Guessand, Orakpo
Toulouse possible starting lineup:
Restes; Cresswell, Nicolaisen, Suazo; Kamanzi, Sierro, Casseres Jr, Donnum; Aboukhlal, Magri, Gboho
We say: Nice 1-1 Toulouse
Nice will be looking for an improved performance in their first home game under Haise, but the visitors produced a great performance in their opening game and are likely to prove a challenging opponent, suggesting this will end all square.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Ellis Stevens
