Lens square off against Angers on Sunday afternoon looking for the win which could move the club back into the European positions in the Ligue 1 standings.
At a time when Lens sit in 10th place, Angers are down in 13th spot after losing four successive matches in France's top flight.
Match preview
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Having narrowly missed out on European qualification last season, Lens are aiming to overcome that disappointment this time around, but they will need to find some consistency during the closing months.
Since the November international break, the Blood and Gold have won just three of their 12 league matches, losing five of their other fixtures.
On a positive note, each of those victories have come since the turn of the year, but Franck Haise's team have been left playing catch-up in a hotly-contested race.
After just about holding on to see off Bordeaux by a 3-2 scoreline, Lens were held to a 1-1 draw by rivals Lyon last weekend, their opponents remaining two points and four places in front.
Jonathan Clauss continued his impressive campaign by getting on the scoresheet versus Lyon, the right-sided player now having three goals and nine assists for the season.
Despite sitting in 13th spot, Angers are aware that they are on the brink of becoming embroiled in a relegation fight with just eight points the difference between themselves and bottom place.
Gerald Baticle's team have also lost four games in a row, a total of seven defeats in nine fixtures if that period is extended to the middle of December.
However, it should be noted that their last three fixtures have been against three of the top teams in Ligue 1, the only team missing from that run being leaders Paris Saint-Germain.
Baticle should take heart from two of those games ending in a 1-0 reverse, but the Black and Whites have reached a point where they desperately need to get another win on the board to ease the pressure on their shoulders.
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Team News
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Having been withdrawn as early as the eighth minute during the last game, Jimmy Cabot is expected to miss out for Angers.
Vincent Manceau, who has been a regular this season, came on as his replacement at that time and should return to the starting lineup.
Stephane Bahoken is an alternative in the final third if youngster Mohamed-Ali Cho drops out of the team.
While Lens trio Corentin Jean, Wesley Said and Jonathan Gradit are all closing in on a return from injury, this match may come too soon.
Barring any further injury issues, Haise could stick with the same team which started the draw with Lyon, with Przemyslaw Frankowski remaining among the replacements.
Angers possible starting lineup:
Petkovic; Manceau, Ebosse, Traore, Thomas, Doumbia; Fulgini, Mendy, Bentaleb, Boufal; Bahoken
Lens possible starting lineup:
Farinez; Wooh, Danso, Medina; Clauss, Sotoca, Doucoure, Fofana, Haidara; Kakuta; Kalimuendo-Muinga
We say: Angers 1-2 Lens
Despite their recent poor run of results, Angers will feel that they are capable of getting back on track against inconsistent opponents. However, Lens are seemingly back on an upward trajectory, leading us to predict a narrow victory for the visitors.
Top tip
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 Lens win with a probability of 36.85%. A win for Angers had a probability of 35.9% and a draw had a probability of 27.3%.
The most likely scoreline for a Lens win was 0-1 with a probability of 10.58%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.02%) and 0-2 (6.57%). The likeliest Angers win was 1-0 (10.41%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.92%). The actual scoreline of 1-2 was predicted with an 8% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted a 1-2 win for Lens in this match and our data analysis correctly predicted the win for Lens.
