Lens and Le Havre lock horns in Ligue 1 on Saturday in a clash between two out-of-form teams battling at opposite ends of the table.
The hosts could set a decade-long worst run of league losses with another here, all but ending their hopes of a top-four finish, while Le Havre remain rooted in relegation trouble after a damaging home defeat last weekend.
Match preview
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Lens were on the coattails of the top four at the start of February, but Will Still's men now find themselves a whopping eight points adrift of Champions League qualification down in eighth, with Conference League football now also potentially slipping away.
Following three straight Ligue 1 defeats, the Blood and Gold will be keen to ensure that it does not stretch to four, which would be the worst run since the 2014-15 season, when the club was relegated.
Ill discipline has been a big problem, because those three defeats have all been accompanied by a red card, including last week's 3-1 loss at Nantes, where M'Bala Nzola was sent off with 20 minutes remaining while the match was still open at 2-1.
Being reduced to 10 men so frequently will do little to rectify their attacking woes either, as no team outside the bottom three have scored fewer goals than Lens (26), and despite it so often being a strength in Still's teams, their defensive stability has also fallen apart of late.
Losing five of your 11 home matches is always going to make European qualification difficult, and this already represents Lens' worst tally in a season since they were a Ligue 2 club back in 2017-18, and lost eight of their 19 matches at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis.
Home wins against Le Havre are also a rarity, as none of the the last four have gone in their favour, with the last success here coming in Ligue 2 back in 2016.
Still will hope that a 2-1 win in January has marked the end of their woeful record against Le Havre, because they went into that fixture on a run of 12 games without a victory against their upcoming opponents across all venues and competitions.
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Confidence will also be at rock bottom for the visitors, who have lost 16 of their 23 Ligue 1 games this season.
Only two clubs in Ligue 1 history have survived relegation after losing as many, and they were both almost 100 years ago when there were more teams in the top flight, and therefore more time to drag themselves out of trouble.
However, the lack of quality near the bottom of Ligue 1 this season suggests Le Havre could buck that trend, because they are still only two points adrift of Saint-Etienne in the relegation playoff place.
The gap to guaranteed safety is five points, and further repeats of their 4-1 home defeat to Toulouse last weekend will make that margin insurmountable, but Didier Digard's side did remain off the foot of the table thanks to Montpellier's defeat at Nice.
Team News
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Lens will be able to welcome Deiver Machado and Hamzat Ojediran back from suspension, but Nzola's red card at Nantes last weekend means the hosts will be without the striker for this one.
Fellow attacker Martin Satriano remains out with a long-term knee injury, the same issue that has sidelined Remy Labeau Lascary, who tore his cruciate ligament a few weeks ago, while full-back Jhoanner Chavez is also on the treatment table at present with an ankle injury.
Le Havre also have a man suspended, as Junior Mwanga will sit this one out after his dismissal against Toulouse last weekend.
There are still question marks around the fitness of Fode Ballo-Toure despite him playing 75 minutes in that defeat, with Daler Kuzyaev, Andy Logbo, Arouna Sangante and Yann Kitala also all doubtful.
Issa Soumare did not score in his first 18 months as a Le Havre player, but after netting his first in the win at Lille, he found the net again last weekend, and should be a certain starter for this one.
Lens possible starting lineup:
Ryan; Aguilar, Gradit, Medina, Machado; El Aynaoui, Diouf, Thomasson; Said, Sotoca, Zaroury
Le Havre possible starting lineup:
Gorgelin; Nego, Youte Kinkoue, Lloris, Ballo-Toure; Diawara, Casimir, Kechta; Soumare, Hassan, Joujou
We say: Lens 0-0 Le Havre
Lens' season is falling apart after a dreadful run of form has seen them drop out of the European places entirely, and a feeble attack that has netted a meagre 26 goals this season is struggling to turn games in their favour.
Likewise, Le Havre have scored just 19 goals, and have also lost eight of the last 11, but they have won 11 of their 17 points on the road this season, and are unbeaten in three away games, giving them the chance to make it four for the first time in over two decades.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Andrew Delaney
