Toulouse play host to Le Havre on Sunday evening still searching for their first win of the new Ligue 1 season.

Meanwhile, the visitors have been one of the surprise packages of the campaign, sitting in seventh position in the standings courtesy of recording two victories before the international break.

Match preview

© Imago

On the back of last season's 11th-placed finish, Toulouse are naturally pushing for the top half in 2024-25 with no distraction of European football this time around.

However, Carles Martinez Novell's side have started the campaign in less than impressive fashion, albeit with just the one defeat to their name.

That said, only the goalless draw against Nantes on the opening weekend can be perceived to be a disappointing result, with the 1-1 draw which followed at Nice perhaps better than expected.

Toulouse were already 2-0 down to Marseille last time out when they had a player sent off in the 27th minute, there then being an inevitability about losing to the free-scoring high-flyers.

The games do not get any easier for Toulouse with Brest, Lyon and Lille to follow this match, putting the pressure on a morale-boosting victory this weekend.

From Le Havre's perspective, they would have been happy to get one of their games against Paris Saint-Germain out on the way in their first game, losing 4-1 at home to the champions.

Nevertheless, Didier Digard's team have been able to respond with back-to-back victories over Saint-Etienne and Auxerre respectively to build some space between themselves and the drop zone.

Four of their five goals in those fixtures came during the second half, albeit helped in the latter with Auxerre having a player sent off just before half time.

Incredibly, it is the first time since 2003 that Le Havre have posted successive wins in the top flight, and you have to go back to the same year for the last time that Les Ciel et Marine recorded three wins in a row.

Team News

With Frank Magri serving a suspension for his red card against Marseille, Joshua King could be handed a start up front for Toulouse.

Djibril Sidibe may be brought into the back three as a replacement for Charlie Cresswell, while Shavy Babicka and Warren Kamanzi are also pushing for opportunities.

Meanwhile, Le Havre will be without striker Issa Soumare through injury, which could lead to a chance for Josue Casimir.

Barring any further fitness issues, the rest of the side could stay the same as they bid to move further up the table.

Toulouse possible starting lineup:
Restes; Sidibe, Nicolaisen, McKenzie; Suazo, Sierro, Casseres, Donnum; Aboukhlal, Gboho; King

Le Havre possible starting lineup:
Desmas; Nego, Sangante, Salmier, Lloris, Operi; Ndiaye, Kechta, Toure, Targhalline; Soumare

We say: Toulouse 2-1 Le Havre

While Le Havre have reason to be confident heading into this contest, respect must be given to the home side who have only lost out to free-scoring Marseille. With that in mind, we are backing the home side to edge this encounter, kick-starting their season in the process.


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