The headline fixture in the round of 16 of the Coupe de France will come from Parc des Princes, where Paris Saint-Germain will take on Brest on Wednesday evening.

This match will see two of Ligue 1's best teams this season duke it out for a spot in the last eight, with PSG currently leading the league standings while Brest are in third place.

Match preview

Paris Saint-Germain's (PSG) Kylian Mbappe celebrates scoring their second goal with teammates on January 3, 2024 © Reuters

Paris Saint-Germain were knocked out of this competition in this same round last term and will be looking to win back the Coupe de France after holding on to the trophy in the previous two seasons.

So far, they have been formidable in the competition, kicking off the campaign with a massive 9-0 win over Revel at the start of January and following that up with a 4-1 victory over Orleans a couple of weeks ago.

The Parisians have an incredible home record in this competition and have not lost at Parc des Princes since January 2014, posting a total of 15 wins and just a single draw in that time.

In addition, Luis Enrique's side have an even more impressive record against this opponent, unbeaten in their last 27 competitive matches (W19 D8 L0) spanning a period of almost four decades.

However, the 14-time champions of this tournament will know that they will need to be at their best to progress to the next round, especially after Brest came from two goals down to take a point off them in a nail-biting league encounter less than two weeks ago.

Brest's Mathias Pereira Lage celebrates scoring their second goal with teammates on January 28, 2024 © Reuters

Meanwhile, after finishing in 14th place in the league and crashing out of this competition in the round of 32 last season, the 2023-24 campaign has been something of a fairytale for Brest up to this point.

The Pirates currently find themselves in a Champions League qualification spot with the first half of the season already behind us and remained within three points of second-placed Nice, whom they drew 0-0 against over the weekend.

That took Eric Roy's side to a total of 11 matches unbeaten in all competitions, during which time they beat lower league opponents Angers 1-0 and Trelissac 2-1 in their two preceding matches in this competition.

Brest's strength this season has been their defensive solidity as they have only allowed 17 goals in 20 league matches, which is the same number that PSG have conceded and is the third-best in the top flight overall.

After winning only one away match between September and October, Brest are unbeaten in their last five on the road (W4 D1 L0) and scored two or more goals in all but one of the matches in that time.

Paris Saint-Germain Coupe de France form:

Paris Saint-Germain form (all competitions):

Brest Coupe de France form:

Brest form (all competitions):

Team News

Paris Saint-Germain's (PSG) Carlos Soler receives medical attention on January 14, 2024 © Reuters

While reports this week suggest that Kylian Mbappe may be on his way to Real Madrid at the end of this season, the 25-year-old is the leading scorer in this competition with five goals in their two matches and should lead the line again in this one.

In terms of injuries, Presnel Kimpembe (Achilles) and Sergio Rico (head) have not featured at all this season and are expected to remain sidelined for the foreseeable future.

Layvin Kurzawa (back), Alexandre Letellier (illness) and Nuno Mendes (hamstring) will also be sidelined through injury for this match, while Milan Skriniar is flagged as a doubt owing to a knock to his ankle.

While Marco Bizot is the first-choice goalkeeper for Brest, Netherlands international Gregoire Coudert has been given the starting role in the cup matches thus far and should line up between the sticks for this one as well.

Bilal Brahimi (knock), Jeremy Le Douaron (thigh) and Jordan Amavi (calf) are all ruled out for Wednesday's clash due to injury, while Julien Le Cardinal will be hoping for a spot in the starting 11 following his return to fitness.

Paris Saint-Germain possible starting lineup:
Navas; Soler, Marquinhos, Pereira, Hernandez; Vitinha, Ruiz; Kolo Muani, Asensio; Ramos, Mbappe

Brest possible starting lineup:
Coudert; Lala, Le Cardinal, Brassier, Locko; Camara, Lees-Melou, Magnetti; Del Castillo, Satriano, Lage

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We say: Paris Saint-Germain 2-1 Brest

Brest's performance against PSG in the league last month will give them tremendous confidence coming into this match, but it is difficult to back against the Parisians, especially on their home patch. We are expecting another solid performance by the visitors but fancy the 14-time winners of this competition to progress to the last eight.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.