Rennes will look to extend their positive home record in the 2024-25 Ligue 1 season when they take on unbeaten Lens at Roazhon Park in the Derby du Nord on Saturday evening.
The hosts are in seventh place after the first five games with six points earned, while the visitors have taken eight points over the same period and are currently fourth.
Match preview
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After experiencing their worst league placement since 2018-19 last term, Rennes have not exactly made the start to the new season that they would have wanted to.
Following an impressive 3-0 win over Lyon on opening weekend, Les Rennais suffered back-to-back defeats away to Strasbourg and Reims, but returned to winning ways after the international break, overcoming Montpellier 3-0.
The one major positive for Julien Stephan, though, is that both his side's victories came in their two home games this season, during which they scored six goals, which is the second-best home tally in the league behind Paris Saint-Germain's nine.
Notably, the Red and Blacks have now scored in every league match at Roazhon Park since Stephan arrived in Rennes in mid-November last year (12 games in total).
When these two met last, the match ended in a 1-1 draw at this venue with Angelo Fulgini and Ibrahim Salah's goals cancelling each other out. That result extended Rennes' winless run against this opponent to eight in a row, including four draws and four losses.
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Meanwhile, Lens have laid a solid platform this season, taking eight points from their first four league games, making them one of only four sides still unbeaten heading into gameweek five.
The Blood and Gold kicked off the new campaign with consecutive wins over Angers and Brest, stole a late point away to Monaco ahead of the international break, and played out a goalless draw to Lyon last week.
With those results, combined with a win and two draws over their final three games last season, Lens now have the joint-longest active unbeaten streak in the top flight (7) alongside Monaco.
The one major stain on their otherwise impressive performance this season, though, was their 2-0 second-leg Conference League qualifier defeat to Panathinaikos, which denied them European football this season.
Still, new boss Will Still has undoubtedly earned a fair few admirers over the early stages of the season, and he now has an opportunity to lead his side to a third unbeaten match on the road, something they have not achieved since between January and February this year.
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Team News
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Rennes have two confirmed squad absentees for this weekend's fixture, with goalkeeper Dogan Alemdar and winger Carlos Andres Gomez ruled out owing to a cruciate ligament tear and shin injury respectively.
The good news for the home side, though, is that Leo Ostigard will be eligible to return from suspension this week and should slot straight back alongside Christopher Wooh in central defence.
Lens were hopeful of having Kevin Danso available from after the international break, but the centre-back is reportedly still feeling discomfort and is likely to remain sidelined for another couple of weeks.
Deiver Machado returned from his red card suspension last week against Lyon and should keep his place in midfield alongside Adrien Thomasson, Andy Diouf and Przemyslaw Frankowski.
Rennes possible starting lineup:
Mandanda; Ostigard, Wooh, Seidu, Assignon, Santamaria, Matusiwa, Truffert; Gronbaek, Kalimuendo, Blas
Lens possible starting lineup:
Samba; Medina, Khusanov, Gradit; Machado, Diouf, Costa, Frankowski; Thomasson; Sotoca, Said
We say: Rennes 1-1 Lens
Matches between these two are generally very evenly balanced, with both games last season ending level, while neither side have won by more than a single goal in their last six meetings.
Based on their early form this season, we are expecting another closely contested encounter this weekend and feel there will be nothing to split these two at the final whistle.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
