On Wednesday, the Ligue 1 season continues for Saint-Etienne and Nantes, who face each other in week 19 action from Stade Geoffroy-Guichard.
Les Verts are bottom of the table, losing four consecutive matches domestically, while La Maison Jaune have won their last two league fixtures and are currently in 10th with 25 points.
Match preview
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Pascal Dupraz began his tenure as the new Saint-Etienne boss on the right foot as his side defeated a fourth-tier team in Lyon La Duchere 1-0 in their Round of 64 clash at the Coupe de France on Sunday.
The 59-year-old former striker will be called upon to work his magic and save this team from descent into Ligue 2, something that he was able to do with Evian in 2012-13, moving them up from 18th to 16th, while also rescuing Toulouse from relegation in 2015-16 when they were 10 points adrift of top-flight salvation with 10 matches left and ended up a point above Stade de Reims to remain in Ligue 1.
Dupraz takes over a side who have not found the back of the net in three consecutive league games and are in serious trouble of dropping down into the second tier of French football for the first time since the 2000-01 campaign.
Even though his victory was against a side well below their level, this team will take any positives that they can get right now, as they maintained a clean sheet for only the second time this year in all competitions and scored in a match for the first time this month.
Home field has not been much of an advantage for Les Verts this season, losing nine Ligue 1 fixtures at Geoffroy-Guichard in 2021, their worst calendar year tally in the top flight.
Things may not be looking all that good for the record 10-time French champions, but the good news for Dupraz and his team is that there are still plenty of matches to play, and they are not too far away from top-flight safety, trailing Troyes for 16th by only four points, while one victory could move them into a three-way tie with Metz and Lorient for a relegation playoff position.
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They never seem to make it easy on themselves, but Les Canaris have been able to get the job done, advancing to the Round of 32 at the Coupe de France this past weekend, defeating Sochaux on penalties.
That victory in dramatic fashion has become something that manager Antoine Kombouare is used to seeing from his team, who erased a two-goal deficit to beat Lens 3-2 with a goal in the 90th minute and squeaking past Lorient 1-0 five days earlier, finding the back of the net with seven minutes remaining.
The man who led PSG to the Coupe de France as a manager in 2009-10 has to be pleased with how hard his players have fought to get out of a slump that saw them go without a win in five straight league contests before their late victory over Les Merlus.
After narrowly avoiding relegation a season ago, defeating Toulouse in a playoff on away goals, Kombourare has his team in the hunt for a place in Europe at the moment, trailing Montpellier for fifth by a mere three points and a spot in the Europa Conference League qualifiers next season.
Far too often of late, Nantes have had to fight their way back from a goal behind, scoring the opener in only one of their previous five league encounters, notching only one first-half goal over that stretch.
Some solid contributions from their midfielders have enabled them to compete in their share of matches, as they have grown tremendously in a short period.
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Team News
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Arnaud Nordin had the lone goal on Sunday in their victory in the Coupe de France, while Stefan Bajic collected his first clean sheet of the season, replacing Etienne Green in goal, as the young English keeper will be out for up to six weeks with a broken elbow suffered in their defeat to Reims.
Denis Bouanga scored the last Saint-Etienne goal in league play at the end of November in a 3-1 defeat to PSG, but he will not be available for this game, following his first-half red card in their previous Ligue 1 fixture.
Les Verts made four changes to their starting 11 in their last league game, with Miguel Trauco, Timothee Kolodziejczak, Zaydou Youssouf and Gabriel Silva replacing Yvann Macon, Harold Moukoudi, Adil Aouchiche and Jean-Philippe Krasso.
Moses Simon, who is third in the league in assists with five, scored the winner in the comeback victory for Nantes versus Lens, his sixth of the campaign, while Randal Kolo Muani notched a brace for his eighth and ninth goals of the season, putting him one back of Ludovic Blas for the team lead.
On Saturday, Remy Descamps replaced team captain Alban Lafont in goal in their Coupe de France tie, picking up a shutout and enabling his side to win 5-4 on penalties.
In their previous Ligue 1 match, Nantes had a few new faces in their starting 11 with Fabio, Nicolas Pallois, Wylan Cyprien and Willem Geubbels taking the place of Dennis Appiah, Simon, Samuel Moutoussamy and Kalifa Coulibaly.
Saint-Etienne possible starting lineup:
Bajic; Trauco, Kolodziejczak, Nade, Moukoudi; Neyou, Camara, Boudebouz; Krasso, Khazri, Nordin
Nantes possible starting lineup:
Lafont; Fabio, Castelletto, Girotto, Merlin; Kolo Muani, Cyprien, Chirivella, Coco; Simon, Blas
We say: Saint-Etienne 1-0 Nantes
Dupraz has a reputation for reviving teams on the brink of relegation, and playing Nantes could be just what they need to get back to winning ways in the league, losing only two of their previous 17 Ligue 1 affairs versus La Maison Jaune.
Nantes have had difficulty against the lower teams in the French top flight, and they have struggled away from home, winning only one of their last six road games.
Top tip
Joel Lefevre
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 Nantes win with a probability of 45.59%. A win for Saint-Etienne had a probability of 27.34% and a draw had a probability of 27.1%.
The most likely scoreline for a Nantes win was 0-1 with a probability of 12.62%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.84%) and 0-2 (8.76%). The likeliest Saint-Etienne win was 1-0 (9.18%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.74%). The actual scoreline of 0-1 was predicted with a 12.6% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 0-1 win for Nantes in this match.
