Lorient will be looking to recover from their midweek Ligue 1 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain when they face off against another European-chasing side in Rennes on Sunday afternoon.
Meanwhile, the visitors marched to their second win in a row with a narrow triumph over Marseille before their trip to the Stade du Moustoir.
Match preview
© Reuters
Fresh from a resounding victory over struggling Nimes, Lorient had their tails up heading into their Wednesday encounter with a faltering PSG outfit.
However, Christophe Pelissier's men were no match for the champions - who were far from their best - but Thomas Tuchel's men nevertheless managed to record a 2-0 win thanks to goals from Kylian Mbappe and Moise Kean.
A controversial red card brandished to Andreaw Gravillon allowed PSG to ease to victory over the 10 men of Lorient, who held their own against the champions in the first 45, but that result has done little to help Lorient's survival prospects.
Les Merlus still find themselves in the bottom three after 15 matches, but should Reims suffer defeat at Marseille on Saturday, Lorient would have the chance to leapfrog their fellow strugglers with a crucial win over Rennes.
© Reuters
While the Rennes faithful would have been distraught to see their team's Champions League venture end so soon, one positive from their early exit is that Les Rouge et Noir are starting to turn their fortunes around domestically.
Julien Stephan's men had dropped out of the top five amid a dismal spell of form in November and early December, but Rennes have now secured six points from their last two games in Ligue 1 with wins over Nice and most recently Marseille.
Pape Gueye broke the deadlock for Marseille in that game before seeing red, with Rennes turning the tie around in the second period thanks to goals from Hamari Traore and substitute Adrien Hunou.
Stephan's side closed the gap on fourth-placed Marseille to two points with that win, although Les Olympiens do have two games in hand, and Rennes are one of only two sides in the entire division to have recorded back-to-back wins from their last two matches - the other being table-toppers Lille.
Despite largely struggling for results over the past several weeks, Rennes have only chalked up a solitary league defeat away from home this season, and Les Rouge et Noir scraped a 1-0 win when they last locked horns with Lorient in the 2016-17 campaign.
Lorient Ligue 1 form: LLLLWL
Rennes Ligue 1 form: LLDLWW
Rennes form (all competitions): DLLLWW
Team News
© Reuters
Lorient reportedly launched an appeal over Gravillon's red card in the loss to PSG, but it was unsuccessful and the defender will miss the next two matches.
With Julien Laporte still absent, 19-year-old Loris Mouyokolo could be handed a start in defence, and Thomas Fontaine is also sidelined with an Achilles injury.
Quentin Boisgard is touch and go for this one, but Jonathan Delaplace should be given the green light to reprise his regular role on the right-hand side of defence.
Rennes are still without first-choice goalkeeper Alfred Gomis, while 18-year-old striker Georginio Rutter will not be involved after taking a blow to the knee on Wednesday.
Romain Del Castillo and Serhou Guirassy remain in the treatment room, but it should not be too long before Daniele Rugani, Flavien Tait and Jonas Martin return to the fold.
Benjamin Bourigeaud will hope to force his way back into Stephan's midfield, but significant alterations from the midweek win are unlikely.
Lorient possible starting lineup:
Nardi; Delaplace, Morel, Mouyokolo, Le Goff; Chalobah, Lemoine, Le Fee; Lauriente, Moffi, Wissa
Rennes possible starting lineup:
Salin; Traore, Da Silva, Aguerd, Maouassa; Nzonzi, Camavinga, Bourigeaud; Doku, Niang, Terrier
We say: Lorient 1-2 Rennes
Lorient were looking good against PSG before Gravillon's red card changed the course of the game, and Pelissier will be working with a depleted squad for the visit of Rennes. Stephan's side have resumed their charge for a spot in Europe and will be buoyed by their hard-fought win over Marseille, so we can only see Rennes coming away with all three points in this encounter.
Top betting tip
Ben Knapton
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 Rennes win with a probability of 40.49%. A win for Lorient had a probability of 31.64% and a draw had a probability of 27.9%.
The most likely scoreline for a Rennes win was 0-1 with a probability of 12.08%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.28%) and 0-2 (7.64%). The likeliest Lorient win was 1-0 (10.35%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.09%). The actual scoreline of 0-3 was predicted with a 3.2% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Rennes would win this match.
