Brest welcome Montpellier HSC to the Stade Francis-Le Ble on Saturday afternoon for a midtable clash in Ligue 1's penultimate round of games before the winter break.
The hosts sit in 10th place, one point and one position behind their upcoming opponents, but are on a very impressive run of form.
Match preview
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To slightly twist a much-overused cliche, Brest have certainly produced a season of two halves to this point.
Les Pirates struggled badly at the start of the campaign, with six draws and six losses from their first 12 games, before finally earning a first win of the season at Halloween.
That 2-0 victory at home to Monaco sparked something within the squad seemingly, though, as they have won every game since.
Triumphs over the struggling trio of Lorient, Bordeaux and Saint-Etienne were not totally unexpected, but there was also the 4-0 thrashing of high-flying Lens in mid-November and another shock last weekend.
Michel Der Zakarian's side came from one goal down away at Marseille, with goals from Romain Faivre and Franck Honorat sealing a sixth successive victory.
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Montpellier have also shown some decent form, although they have been far less consistent and somewhat all or nothing in recent weeks.
They have won five of their last eight games, but lost the other three - it is now over two months since their last draw - and continue to fluctuate around a tightly-packed midtable.
La Paillade come into this game on the back of two victories in the space of four days, however, as they followed up their 3-1 win away at Metz with a narrow triumph over 18th-placed Clermont.
Elye Wahi's very well-taken goal in the 28th minute was enough to secure the three points and move the club to within two points of the European spots.
They come up against a side who will likely feel that they can beat anyone at the moment, though, even if they have not managed a win in this fixture during the last six meetings.
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Team News
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Brendan Chardonnet is suspended for Brest, with Lilian Brassier the most likely candidate to fill in at centre-back.
Der Zakarian will also be without Hianga'a Mbock (illness), Denys Bain (hamstring), Sebastien Cibois (achilles) and Paul Lasne (ACL).
Montpellier find themselves in a very similar situation to their opponents with one suspension and three injuries.
Florent Mollet is the man to miss out for disciplinary reasons, with Valere Germain likely to replace him in the XI, whilst Maxime Esteve, Thibault Tamas and Pedro Mendes are in the treatment room.
Brest possible starting lineup:
Bizot; Pierre-Gabriel, Brassier, Herelle, Duverne; Faivre, Magnetti, Belkebla, Honorat; Le Douaron, Mounie
Montpellier HSC possible starting lineup:
Omlin; Sambia, Cozza, Sakho, Ristic; Ferri, Chotard; Wahi, Savanier, Mavididi; Germain
We say: Brest 2-2 Montpellier HSC
With both teams high on confidence and both managers well-versed in the ways of the opposition, this game is a tricky one to call. It could go either way but we are backing a high-scoring draw considering both sides have scored 25 this season and conceded a fair few too.
Top tip
James Mackenzie
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 Brest win with a probability of 49.95%. A draw had a probability of 25.3% and a win for Montpellier HSC had a probability of 24.8%.
The most likely scoreline for a Brest win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.68%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.43%) and 2-0 (9.18%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12%), while for a Montpellier HSC win it was 0-1 (7.64%). The actual scoreline of 0-4 was predicted with a 0.3% likelihood.
