Paris Saint-Germain will have to pick themselves up off the canvas after a late defeat in midweek when they travel to Angers in Ligue 1 on Saturday night.
Luis Enrique's men suffered heartache against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday, losing with the last kick of the game in the Champions League, but now face opponents against whom they have an exceptional record.
Match preview
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While the 'galactico' route did not pay off for PSG's Qatari owners in their hunt for a Champions League crown, their policy of building a young, prosperous squad is not having the desired effect either.
Managers at this club will always be judged on their European pedigree, as the league title should be a given in the eyes of the owners, and Enrique is not passing that test at present.
Wednesday's defeat, courtesy of Angel Correa's 93rd-minute goal, means the Spaniard has won just six of his 16 Champions League games in charge of the Parisians, and has seen them slip outside the top 24 entirely.
Excellent domestic form will not save Enrique should that poor European form continue, but PSG have been dominant in France so far this season.
The win over Lens last week was accompanied by a rare home clean sheet - just the second PSG have managed at the Parc des Princes in 14 games in Ligue 1 in 2024, as a composed 1-0 win kept them six points clear at the top.
Ahead of this trip to Angers, the bad news for the hosts is that PSG are even stronger on the road, as the thrashing of Marseille in Le Classique two weeks ago extended their unbeaten away run in Ligue 1 to 29 games, with 22 of those ending in victory.
The visitors are massive favourites, but Angers should not be written off as no-hopers, as a poor start has quickly been forgotten about, with Alexandre Dujeux's side having lost just one of their last seven games.
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As the outright favourites to be relegation pre-season, Angers have laughed in the face of those predictions in recent weeks, moving out of the bottom three with eight points won in their last four games.
The catalyst behind this upturn was an impressive draw away to Marseille last month, before Dujeux's men were disappointed to leave Toulouse with just a point after missing a penalty that would have put them two goals up.
However, Angers made amends for that by claiming back-to-back victories, firstly against fellow newly-promoted side Saint-Etienne, and away to Champions League competitors Monaco last weekend - the most surprising result in Ligue 1 so far this season.
Le SCO went down with just 18 points from 38 games in the 2022-23 season, but they are already over halfway to beating that tally this season, with 10 points from their opening 10 games.
Making it three wins a row here appears very unlikely, though, as Angers have lost 16 straight games against PSG, and have not beaten the current French champions in almost 50 years.
Team News
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Lucas Beraldo will be available again for PSG after he served a one-match ban in the win over Lens, but fellow defenders Presnel Kimpembe and Lucas Hernandez remain on the treatment table.
Goncalo Ramos will not play again until 2025, and Randal Kolo Muani is now out of favour seemingly, so Enrique is set to play with a false nine again, which will most probably be either Marco Asensio or Lee Kang-in.
Fingers were pointed at goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma again on Wednesday, as he let Correa's late strike squirm through him for Atletico's winner, so Matvey Safonov could come back in after starting in the win over Lens and keeping a clean sheet.
After another excellent win last week, there is no reason for Dujeux to make any changes to his Angers side, with no new injury or suspension worries heading into this one.
Already on the sidelines, Cedric Hountondji (thigh), Zinedine Ferhat (muscle), Sidiki Cherif (thigh) and Joseph Lopy (unknown) will remain out for the home side here.
Angers possible starting lineup:
Fofana; Arcus, Biumia, Lefort, Hanin; Aholou, Belkebla, Abdelli; Allevinah, Niane, El Melali
Paris Saint-Germain possible starting lineup:
Safonov; Hakimi, Lucas Beraldo, Pacho, Nuno Mendes; Joao Neves, Vitinha, Fabian Ruiz; Dembele, Lee, Barcola
We say: Angers 0-3 Paris Saint-Germain
With 16 wins in a row against their upcoming opponents, PSG have been handed the perfect fixture to respond to the midweek debacle, and three points are almost a given.
Many will be expecting a home defeat, so Angers may be prioritising the important games they have on the horizon after the international break against Auxerre and Le Havre.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Andrew Delaney
