In Ligue 1 on Sunday, Lens will look to put a disappointing start to 2024 behind them when they travel to face a Toulouse side reeling from a shock cup exit.
The hosts were dumped out of the Coupe de France in extraordinary circumstances last weekend, after returning to league action in fine fashion.
Match preview
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FC Rouen of the third tier were the side that caused the biggest giant killing of the round of 32, as Toulouse threw away a 2-1 lead and eventually lost on penalties.
Carles Martinez's side needed a 92nd-minute strike from Rasmus Nicolaisen to force the shootout, but after drawing 3-3, 12 rounds of penalties were needed to split the teams, as 11 players on either side scored before Gabriel Suazo missed his second kick.
Toulouse will have to regroup and continue their fight to move away from trouble in Ligue 1 after they finished 2023 by going 10 games without a win.
Their only victories from October 1 onwards all came in the Europa League, as a promising start quickly diminished and Toulouse found themselves in a relegation fight.
After starting the new year with a defeat against Paris Saint-Germain in the Super Cup, Martinez led his side to a comfortable win over fifth-tier Chambly in the Coupe.
They were able to take some belief into their clash with Metz on the resumption of the Ligue 1 season, winning 1-0 on the road to move them out of the relegation places and into 14th.
That is where Toulouse lie heading into the weekend, but they now have two tough encounters against Lens and Reims coming up, two sides fighting for Europe.
Franck Haise has done an excellent job in the Lens dugout at dragging his side back into shape after a dreadful start had them in the bottom three themselves.
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The Champions League competitors took just one point from their opening five games this season, but the 13 matches that have followed have seen Lens average almost two points-per-game.
That has revitalised their ambitions of qualifying for Europe again as they now sit just three points off the top six.
If Lens are dreaming of another venture into the Champions League, though, the task remains tricky, with the gap to Monaco in fourth still a rather hefty seven points.
Haise has had two weeks to prepare his side for this encounter, though, considering they were not in league action last weekend due to their early elimination from the Coupe at the hands of the side from the principality.
Lens had a much more difficult assignment on their return to league action two weeks ago, losing 2-0 at home to PSG, but a first-half penalty miss from Przemyslaw Frankowski and a red card to Jonathan Gradit hardly helped matters.
Team News
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Like many clubs in Ligue 1, Toulouse have players away at the Africa Cup of Nations, and defender Logan Costa has been involved heavily in the amazing Cape Verde story so far.
Moussa Diarra (Mali) and Frank Magri (Cameroon) have been less influential, but both will compete in the knockout rounds over the coming days and remain away.
An injury to Zakaria Aboukhlal robbed him of a chance of representing Morocco, as he remains sidelined alongside Denis Genreau and Mikkel Desler with injury.
Gradit's red card against PSG means he will be unavailable for a Lens side also missing multiple players due to international commitments.
Salis Abdul Samed is set to return home after being eliminated with Ghana, but Guinea's Morgan Guilavogui and Nampalys Mendy of Senegal remain at the finals.
Lens also have Abdukodir Khusanov at the Asian Cup with Uzbekistan, and youngster Oscar Cortes on Olympic qualifying duty with Colombia's Under-23s at present.
On top of that, Haise has numerous injuries to contend with, as Massadio Haidara (thigh), Ruben Aguilar, Jimmy Cabot (both knee), and Deiver Machado (groin) are all missing.
Toulouse possible starting lineup:
Restes; Kamanzi, Mawissa Elebi, Nicolaisen, Suazo; Spierings, Casseres, Sierro; Donnum, Dallinga, Cesar Gelabert
Lens possible starting lineup:
Samba; Chaves, Danso, Medina; Frankowski, El Aynaoui, Diouf, David Costa; Sotoca, Wahi, Thomasson
We say: Toulouse 1-2 Lens
Lens have won five in a row against Toulouse, including in the reverse fixture back in September when Guilavogui scored a late winner, and they are now looking more like the side that gatecrashed the top three last season.
Toulouse's confidence may be extremely fragile after being the slain giants in the cup last week, and their position in the Ligue 1 table does not lie, as another difficult fixture awaits.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Andrew Delaney
