Taking to Parc des Princes soil for the final time in 2023, Paris Saint-Germain aim to end the calendar year on a high when Metz tackle the Ligue 1 champions on Wednesday night.
Luis Enrique's side were held to an agonising 1-1 draw by Lille at the weekend, while their newly-promoted visitors slumped to a 1-0 home defeat to Montpellier HSC.
Match preview
© Reuters
Despite netting no fewer than 12 goals in their pair of fixtures with Lille at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy in 2022, PSG's previous attacking excellence on Les Dogues' turf counted for little on Sunday, where the champions needed a Kylian Mbappe penalty to break the deadlock deep into the second half.
However, as Luis Enrique introduced fresh legs onto the scene in a bid to see the game out, one PSG substitute inadvertently helped a fellow Lille replacement to snatch a point from the jaws of defeat, as Marco Asensio's poor pass out from the back ended with Jonathan David heading home the equaliser four minutes into added-on time.
Perhaps nursing a minor European hangover from their Champions League last 16-clinching draw with Borussia Dortmund in midweek, where Les Parisiens were once again left to rue wastefulness in the final third, Les Parisiens were grateful to see Monaco and Nice fail to capitalise on their dropped points to remain comfortably clear at the summit.
Unbeaten in 11 top-flight contests - winning eight on the spin before being forced to accept a slice of the spoils at Lille - PSG boast a five-point advantage over Nice in first place and will not be back in Ligue 1 action for almost a month once Wednesday's game is done and dusted; Trophee des Champions and Coupe de France commitments take precedence in the early weeks of January.
David's last-gasp Lille leveller at the weekend means that PSG host Metz having only kept one clean sheet from their last six outings across all competitions, but each of their last five Ligue 1 contests at the Parc des Princes has ended in victory for the champions, who have a whopping 17 goals to show from that quintet of matches.
© Reuters
While the runaway champions may find the back of the net for fun in the capital, Metz's frailties in the final third once again came to the fore during Sunday's visit of Montpellier HSC, who condemned Les Grenats to a third successive scoreless defeat since the start of the month.
Having previously bowed to Lille and Brest's superiority without breaching their opposition's backline, Metz succumbed to a clever header from first-time senior goalscorer Maxime Esteve at the 100-year-old Stade Saint-Symphorien, where Laszlo Boloni's crop fired 19 shots to no avail.
A winter plight has prevented the newly-promoted outfit from clawing clear of the drop zone, but thanks to a noteworthy unbeaten sequence in November, Boloni's team possess some crucial breathing space; they are four points better off than Lorient and three clear of Lyon in the relegation playoff place.
Typifying inconsistency since returning to the big time, Metz have already lost four in a row once this season - also failing to score in their first three such games before bagging a consolation in a 2-1 loss to Monaco - but 10 of their 16 points have been gleaned away from their headquarters.
The Grenats faithful can therefore make the trip to the capital with quiet optimism, but the head-to-head page makes for grim reading, as PSG have won each of their last 13 matches against Wednesday's visitors, who have not come up trumps in this fixture since the end of the 2005-06 season.
Team News
© Reuters
After spending two matches in the naughty corner for his warranted red card against Le Havre on December 3, PSG's number one stopper Gianluigi Donnarumma is eligible for selection again, so Arnau Tenas's brief stint in between the sticks is set to come to an end.
Tenas (shoulder) is now sidelined alongside fellow guardians Sergio Rico (head trauma) and Keylor Navas (back) anyway, while Ousmane Dembele (hamstring), Nuno Mendes (hamstring), Presnel Kimpembe (Achilles) and Fabian Ruiz (shoulder) remain out, but Goncalo Ramos and Carlos Soler (both illness) should be back.
Enrique did not shy away from shuffling his pack against Les Dogues amid the unforgiving festive schedule, but another raft of alterations should be on the menu here, as Achraf Hakimi, Milan Skriniar and Randal Kolo Muani add a dash of freshness to the XI.
As for the visitors, only Oscar Estupinan (hamstring) and Aboubacar Lo (unspecified) should be at risk of missing out through physical glitches for Boloni, who did not hesitate to sacrifice a couple of players at half time in the loss to Montpellier.
Indeed, both of Lamine Camara and Ablie Jallow were hauled off at the break as Boloni rejigged his midfield - ultimately to little effect - but Kevin N'Doram will be pushing to displace one of the duo either way.
Paris Saint-Germain possible starting lineup:
Donnarumma; Hakimi, Marquinhos, Skriniar, Hernandez; Zaire-Emery, Ugarte, Vitinha; Barcola, Kolo Muani, Mbappe
Metz possible starting lineup:
Oukidja; Colin, Traore, Herelle, Cande, Udol; Van Den Kerkhof, Jacques, N'Doram, Asoro; Elisor
We say: Paris Saint-Germain 4-0 Metz
It would not be beyond the realm of possibility for Metz to switch to a defence-heavy setup in a bid to quell the PSG strikeforce, who are normally in a merciless mood at the Parc des Princes, but their resistance should ultimately prove futile.
Profligacy has harmed Enrique's men heading into the Christmas period, but a straightforward success - their 14th in a row against Metz - should come their way before the New Year celebrations commence.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
