Saint-Etienne travel north to take on Reims at the Stade Auguste-Delaune II, as they attempt to move off the bottom of the Ligue 1 table after parting ways with their manager.
The hosts meanwhile are faring slightly better in 14th place, but come into the game on the back of a disappointing loss last weekend.
Match preview
© Reuters
Reims came into their last game enjoying something of a mini revival in Ligue 1, having gone four games without a defeat and taken eight points from the previous 12 on offer.
That streak ended, though, with a home loss to an Angers side that they were only three points behind at kickoff.
Les Rouges et Blancs were reduced to 10 men when Valon Berisha saw red having picked up two yellow cards within the first 35 minutes, but were able to keep things together until half time.
Oscar Garcia's team talk did not have the desired effect, however, as the visitors opened the scoring through a Sofiane Boufal penalty just four minutes after the interval.
Reims levelled things up with a spot kick of their own - dispatched by Hugo Ekitike - 10 minutes later, but Angelo Fulgini secured all three points for the away side in the 75th minute and left Garcia's men a lonely 14th in the table, three points behind 13th and three points above 15th.
© Reuters
A heavy 5-0 loss at home to Rennes proved to be the final nail in Claude Puel's Saint-Etienne coffin, with the former Southampton and Leicester City manager sacked by the club's owners.
The 60-year-old's time at the club has never been convincing, having taken charge of a team that finished fourth and only narrowly avoided relegation the following season, with many fans considering Puel fortunate to have retained his job over the summer after another campaign often spent hovering in and around the relegation zone.
This season has been perhaps the worst yet, with the club rooted to the bottom of the table and the days of Saint-Etienne as a consistent top-half side feeling like a distant memory.
Puel had somehow remained in charge despite a winless run of 12 games at the start of the season but a hat-trick from Martin Terrier and further goals from Yvann Macon and Chimuanya Ugochukwu at the weekend inspired the board to act.
Les Verts will almost certainly head into the game without a manager, but may even be able to use that as inspiration considering how things have been going.
- L
- D
- D
- W
- W
- L
- D
- W
- W
- L
- L
- L
Team News
© Reuters
Reims have something of a crisis in the squad, with a total of seven players missing for this game - two suspended and five on the injury list.
It is Berisha and Yunis Abdelhamid who are the disciplinary issues, and they will likely be replaced by El Bilal Toure and Ghislain Konan respectively.
In the treatment room, there are muscle injuries for Marshall Munetsi, Fode Doucoure and Fraser Hornby, whilst Moreto Cassama is out with an ankle issue and Arber Zeneli is a long-term absence with an ACL injury.
Saint-Etienne have no suspended players, but three injuries of their own, with Aimen Moueffek, Romain Hamouma and Yvan Neyou set to miss out.
In Puel's absence, the setup and personnel will be something of a mystery but a 4-4-2 formation is a fair bet.
Reims possible starting lineup:
Rajkovic, Gravillon, Faes, Konan; Foket, Lopy, Matusiwa, Kebbal; Toure, Ekitike, Mbuku
Saint-Etienne possible starting lineup:
Green; Macon, Sow, Moukoudi, Kolodziejczak; Youssouf, Gourna-Douath, Camara, Bouanga; Krasso, Khazri
We say: Reims 1-0 Saint-Etienne
It is hard to know what to expect from the visitors in the absence of Puel but Reims seem the more likely victors, even in spite of the squad's many absences, so we are backing a narrow home victory.
Top tip
James Mackenzie
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 41.01%. A win for Saint-Etienne had a probability of 30.72% and a draw had a probability of 28.3%.
The most likely scoreline for a Reims win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.67%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.22%) and 2-0 (7.91%). The likeliest Saint-Etienne win was 0-1 (10.55%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.17%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with a 7.9% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that Reims would win this match.
