A pair of sides desperate for points to assure their place in Ligue 1 beyond this season will face each other on Sunday at Stade Auguste-Delaune as Reims play host to Bordeaux.
Les Rouges et Blancs are currently 13th in the standings and are winless in their previous seven Ligue 1 fixtures, while Bordeaux are tied with Reims on points and find themselves in 14th place after defeating Lens 3-0 last weekend.
Match preview
© Reuters
His time with the club will soon be coming to an end, but before that happens, outgoing Reims manager David Guion would love to end his tenure with a victory in what has been a memorable few seasons for this team.
Since taking over in 2017, Guion has guided the club to a Ligue 2 triumph in 2017-18, and since then, his side have been a mainstay in Ligue 1, finishing eighth in 2018-19, and earning a Europa League qualification spot the following season, the first time they had qualified for a European competition since their 1962-63 campaign.
Lately, Reims have struggled in front of goal, failing to score in four of their previous six Ligue 1 matches, including a 4-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain last Sunday.
Their defence has done little to help out goalkeeper Predrag Rajkovic, who faced 10 shots against the Parisians and has conceded 10 goals in his last four league fixtures.
Reims have taken a step back this season in the league, and when they look back and reflect, they will see that the reason for the decline was a poor start and finish to this campaign.
They failed to win their opening seven games in 2020-21 and they are winless in their last seven encounters, heading into their final match.
© Reuters
Bordeaux started this season brightly, losing only once in their opening six games, but they have not maintained that momentum throughout the campaign.
Jean-Louis Gasset took over from Paulo Sousa just before the start of this season, and the team have gone through their share of ups and downs during his first campaign as manager.
The new year did not lead to new beginnings for Gasset and his side, but rather new lows, as they lost 12 of their 20 league games, including a stretch of five consecutive losses from late March to late April.
They have been better in May, winning two of their three matches, which is as many as they had in their previous 14 fixtures.
One area that has plagued Bordeaux this season is their inability to earn points on several occasions, which explains why they will finish in the bottom half of the table for a third consecutive campaign.
They have lost 19 games in the league, the third-most among teams in the French top flight this season and the most defeats for this Girondins team since 1959-60, when they suffered 23 losses.
- D
- D
- L
- D
- L
- L
- L
- L
- L
- W
- L
- W
Team News
© Reuters
Reims leading goalscorer Boulaye Dia has 14 goals in this campaign but he would like to end the season with a goal, having failed to score in his last six matches.
Defender Yunis Abdelhamid is suspended for the final match after receiving a red card 10 minutes into their 4-0 defeat to PSG last week.
Attacking midfielder Hatem Ben Arfa is unlikely to feature for Bordeaux in the season finale after taking a knock in an earlier game this month.
Defensive midfielder Otavio will use the off-season to recover from an Achilles tendon rupture that has kept him sidelined since January.
Goalkeeper Benoit Costil is tied with Keylor Navas for second in clean sheets with 15, while Nicolas De Preville would love to score against his former team, with the French striker netting only once all season.
Reims possible starting lineup:
Rajkovic; Konan, Maresic, Faes, Foket; Cassama; Cafaro, Chavalerin, Toure, Munetsi; Dia
Bordeaux possible starting lineup:
Costil; Sabaly, Kwateng, Baysse, Benito, Poundje; Adli, Lacoux, Basic; De Preville, Hwang
We say: Reims 2-0 Bordeaux
Reims have usually finished a Ligue 1 campaign on a positive note, winning their final match of the season in the top flight on three consecutive occasions, dating back to 2015-16 when they were relegated.
They are unbeaten against Bordeaux in their last six home fixtures, holding the Girondins scoreless on four occasions.
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 Reims win with a probability of 36.78%. A win for Bordeaux had a probability of 36.22% and a draw had a probability of 27%.
The most likely scoreline for a Reims win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.3%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.06%) and 2-0 (6.47%). The likeliest Bordeaux win was 0-1 (10.2%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.82%). The actual scoreline of 1-2 was predicted with a 8% likelihood.
