Eyeing a place in the top four of Ligue 1, Lille travel to Roazhon Park on Sunday for a date with a Rennes side that are aiming to put more distance between themselves and relegation.
Last weekend, the Brittany club moved up to 12th in the table thanks to a 2-0 win over Saint-Etienne, while Les Dogues are fifth following a 2-1 defeat at home to Le Havre.
Match preview
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A coaching change at Stade Rennais has made a strong early impact, with Habib Beye winning his two matches in charge since replacing Jorge Sampaoli.
Early into his tenure, the former boss of French side Red Star has been able to get his new team to play sound defensive football, without a goal conceded since his arrival.
Those results have given them some breathing room in the table, as they currently sit six points above Le Havre and relegation and five ahead of Saint-Etienne in the relegation playoff.
Another victory this weekend would give them seven at Roazhon Park in Ligue 1, equalling their mark from the previous top-flight campaign.
In their last seven domestic home matches, Rennes have posted four clean sheets, as many as they had in their previous 21 league fixtures at Roazhon Park.
This weekend, they have an opportunity to win three successive matches in this competition for the first time since December 2023-February 2024 (six).
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After a solid start to February, Lille have hit a minor rough patch, following up a victory over Saint-Etienne (4-1) with defeats to Dunkerque at the Coupe de France (5-4 on penalties) and Le Havre domestically.
Bruno Genesio has not lost consecutive away fixtures in Ligue 1 as the Lille manager, though they were beaten in their last outing as the visitors at Strasbourg (2-1).
Les Nordistes have not won an away match in the top flight since a 2-0 triumph over Lens in October, collecting four draws and one defeat on the road since then.
Their away form has prevented them from contending for a return trip to the Champions League next season, as they currently sit two points back of Nice and Monaco for a place in the group stage of that competition.
They have only triumphed in three of their last 10 matches played across all competitions after winning five of their previous seven games.
Lille are unbeaten in their last 11 competitive fixtures with Rennes but have not beaten them at Roazhon Park since 2023 (3-1).
Team News
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Due to cruciate ligament tears, Rennes will be missing Alidu Seidu and Dogan Alemdar for this match, while Anthony Rouault is questionable with a knock, as is Azor Matusiwa because of an illness.
Meanwhile, Hans Hateboer and Jordan James will have to sit out of Sunday's fixture, each with yellow card suspensions.
Arnaud Kalimuendo and Aboubakar Nagida found the back of the net for them last Saturday, lifting them to another triumph.
On the opposite side Lille are expected to be without Edon Zhegrova, who has a groin strain, Matias Fernandez-Pardo could return from a sore ankle and Samuel Umtiti may be a game-time decision with a knee injury.
A cruciate ligament issue will keep Tiago Santos sidelined for this clash, while Nabil Bentaleb was cleared to play this week, just over six months after suffering from cardiac arrest in a training session with the team last year.
Chuba Akpom, who joined them on loan from Ajax at the end of the winter transfer window, scored his first goal at Lille last weekend, but it came in the latter stages with his side 2-0 down.
Rennes possible starting lineup:
Samba; Jacquet, Wooh, Brassier; Assignon, Fofana, Cisse, Truffert; Al-Taamari, Blas; Kalimuendo
Lille possible starting lineup:
Chevalier; Meunier, Mandi, Alexsandro, Gudmundsson; Andre, Gomes; Cabella, Haraldsson, Sahraoui; David
We say: Rennes 2-2 Lille
Rennes have been impressive defensively under Beye but will have to contend with a Lille squad that boast high-end attacking quality and are desperate to get back into the Champions League race.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joel Lefevre
