Paris Saint-Germain will be looking to keep their Ligue 1 momentum going when they take on out-of-form Reims at the Stade Auguste-Delaune on Sunday evening.
Thomas Tuchel's men have followed up back-to-back losses to begin the season with successive wins and take on a Reims side without a win to their name so far.
Match preview
Had it not been for a last-gasp goal from Julian Draxler two weeks ago to earn a 1-0 win over Metz, you have to wonder what would have been next for head coach Tuchel.
Reaching the Champions League final last season was a great achievement, of course, but two defeats and a draw to begin 2020-21 would have set alarm bells ringing.
As it is, PSG have now recorded two wins on the spin after cruising to a 3-0 victory at Nice last weekend and everything seems to be fine again in the French capital.
Tuchel has not been helped by the absence of various key men because of coronavirus, injuries and suspensions, with Angel Di Maria the latest to be hit with a four-game ban.
Kylian Mbappe made a scoring return to action in the win at Nice, though, and the German coach does also have an array of back-up talents to choose from - Mauro Icardi among them.
PSG remain favourites to win the title for an eighth time in nine years, even if they are four points adrift of early pacesetters Saint-Etienne.
© Reuters
The mission for Tuchel now is to string together a number of wins, but this trip to Reims can be considered a tricky assignment - even their opponents are in the relegation zone.
The Red and Whites have won their last two league meetings with PSG and have lost only two of their 11 home Ligue 1 games against the Parisians.
However, they enter this game in poor form, losing their last three league games since drawing 2-2 with Monaco on the opening weekend - even then they squandered a two-goal lead.
Bigger than that, though, all of last season's hard work in finishing sixth went out of the window with defeat to Hungarian side Fehervar in Thursday's Europa League qualifier.
After the worst possible start to their campaign, David Guion's side need to find some inspiration from somewhere.
Reims Ligue 1 form: DLLL
Reims form (all competitions): DLLWLL
Paris Saint-Germain Ligue 1 form: LLWW
Team News
© Reuters
Layvin Kurzawa and Leandro Paredes are still suspended following their part in the melee against Marseille, but Di Maria's ban will not kick in until next week.
Defenders Juan Bernat and Thilo Kehrer are struggling with injuries, meanwhile, so Tuchel is still far from full strength, though he can call upon Neymar once again.
Marco Verratti, who is the only player with 100+ touches per game in Europe's top five leagues since the start of last season, will get the nod in midfield.
As for the hosts, centre-back Wout Faes was sent off against Angers and will therefore sit out the visit of the champions, while midfielder Moussa Doumbia is another absentee because of a shoulder injury.
Teenage forward El Bilal Toure has one goal in four appearances this term and is expected to lead the line for Reims, who have scored at least one goal in each of their last seven Ligue 1 meetings with PSG.
Reims possible starting lineup:
Rajkovic; Foket, Maresic, Abdelhamid, Konan; Kutesa, Chavlerin, Munetsi, Cafaro; Dia, Toure
Paris Saint-Germain possible starting lineup:
Navas; Florenzi, Marquinhos, Kimpembe, Bakker; Herrera, Gueye, Verratti; Neymar, Mbappe, Di Maria
We say: Reims 0-2 Paris Saint-Germain
PSG are still without some key players and they have struggled in this fixture of late. However, Reims have started the campaign in poor form and were knocked out of the Europa League in midweek, so we are going with an away win on Sunday.
Top betting tip
Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting an away win 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.Away Win: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 Paris Saint-Germain win with a probability of 72.43%. A draw had a probability of 17.1% and a win for Reims had a probability of 10.44%.
The most likely scoreline for a Paris Saint-Germain win was 0-2 with a probability of 12.55%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-1 (10.9%) and 0-3 (9.65%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (8.15%), while for a Reims win it was 1-0 (3.54%). The actual scoreline of 0-2 was predicted with a 12.6% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 0-2 win for Paris Saint-Germain in this match.
