On the back of seeing their six-game winning run come to a bitter end, Lyon seek an instant response on Saturday, when they head to the Stade du Moustoir for a Ligue 1 date with Lorient.
Les Gones fell to a 3-0 loss at the hands of Lens last time out, while their hosts stunned Rennes in a 2-1 triumph at Roazhon Park to increase the gap between themselves and the drop zone.
Match preview
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Steve Mandanda's loss was Mohamed Bamba's gain during Lorient's showdown with a more esteemed Rennes unit last Sunday, where with 59 minutes gone, the veteran goalkeeper spilled the ball in front of the Merlus attacker, who duly tapped home into an empty net.
Coupled with an acrobatic front-flip celebration, Bamba was head over heels before Eli Junior Kroupi made sure of all three points for Lorient in the 90th minute, meeting Gedeon Kalulu's low ball with a first-time strike into the roof of the net for his fifth of the season.
Amine Gouiri's sharp turn and finish did cut the arrears in half for Rennes, but it was too little too late for the hosts to salvage a point as Regis Le Bris's side continued their 2024 renaissance, which has seen Les Merlus triumph in four of their last five Ligue 1 matches after going winless in their previous 10.
Thanks to their ascent from the ashes, Lorient are sitting in a much healthier 13th position in the table and are five points clear of the automatic relegation places, but Montpellier HSC - currently in the demotion/promotion playoff spot - are only two points worse off.
As remarkable as Lorient's recent revival has been, Les Merlus have a habit of falling short against teams also in the bottom half of the rankings, taking just nine points from 12 such matches in 2023-24 and conceding 27 goals, both of which are the worst records of their kind in Ligue 1.
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Lorient's shortcomings in fixtures with fellow bottom-half outfits will be music to the ears of Lyon, who have experienced their own magnificent turnaround in fortunes in recent weeks and hosted Lens last weekend seeking a seventh successive triumph across all competitions.
However, the powers of Pierre Sage's side proved ineffective against Les Merlus, who ran out convincing winners at the Groupama Stadium thanks to Florian Sotoca's opener, Elye Wahi's penalty and Kevin Danso's header, condemning Lyon to their first defeat since January 26 and their 12th of the Ligue 1 season overall.
Coupe de France fatigue may have played its part in that three-goal loss - Lyon had been taken to spot kicks by Strasbourg just four days beforehand - but Sage's revitalised charges are comfortably clear of their relegation rivals in 11th place, eight points above the dotted line.
As such, concerns about a disastrous demotion have eased significantly since Sage took the reins, and they make the long journey to the West Coast of France having won each of their last three away matches in all competitions, and five of their last six on the road all told.
Since pummelling Lorient 4-1 in this exact fixture in March 2022, though, Lyon have failed to assert their dominance over Les Merlus, losing 3-1 here and drawing 0-0 at home last season, before throwing away a two-goal lead in a 3-3 draw against Le Bris's men at the Groupama Stadium in October.
Team News
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During the dying embers of Lorient's success at Lyon, astute January recruit Bamba - now boasting six goals from his first six games for Les Merlus - was withdrawn with a shoulder injury, but Le Bris expects the Ivorian to be fit for the weekend.
Nathaniel Adjei is also on course to feature, despite suffering from a bug earlier this week, leaving the quartet of Quentin Boisgard (foot), Igor Silva (knee), Bonke Innocent (thigh) and Montassar Talbi (shoulder) in the Lorient infirmary.
Boisgard and Innocent are ramping up their recoveries but will not be back in action just yet, meaning that Le Bris will have an identical squad to pick from this weekend, where Kroupi has put his name into the hat for a start over Ayman Kari.
Regarding Lyon, Sage must make a change in defence after Ainsley Maitland-Niles was given a straight red card in the loss to Lens last week; Clinton Mata is the most likely replacement for the suspended ex-Arsenal man in the right-back slot.
Maitland-Niles's former Gunners teammate Alexandre Lacazette was sorely missed in the meeting with Franck Haise's side, having picked up a knock in the Coupe de France win over Strasbourg, and Sage is pessimistic about the Frenchman's chances of being fit for the weekend.
There are also question marks over Orel Mangala (illness) and Nicolas Tagliafico (foot), while Johann Lepenant remains out with a knee injury but should not be too far away from a comeback.
Lorient possible starting lineup:
Mvogo; Toure, Adjei, Laporte; Katseris, Abergel, Bakayoko, Le Bris; Kroupi, Ponceau; Bamba
Lyon possible starting lineup:
Lopes; Mata, O'Brien, Caleta-Car, Tagliafico; Caqueret, Matic, Tolisso; Nuamah, Orban, Benrahma
We say: Lorient 1-1 Lyon
Prone to shipping goals on the road - failing to keep a clean sheet in their last four away matches - a Lyon side who should be ruing the absence of Lacazette once again could be in for a rough ride against a resurgent Lorient team.
Victories against Les Merlus have been hard to come by for the visitors in recent times too, and with Bamba in the form of his life while Gift Orban still waits to open his Ligue 1 account, we can envisage Le Bris's team snatching a point from Saturday's affair.
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Ben Knapton
