Rennes can stretch their unbeaten run in Ligue 1 to five matches when they host Montpellier HSC on Saturday at Roazhon Park.
Three first-half strikes enabled Stade Rennais to come away with a 3-2 victory over Lyon last Friday, while La Paillade extended their league winless run to three matches with a 0-0 draw with Lille.
Match preview
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After a rough start to December, losing their opening two league fixtures, Julien Stephan has Rennes back on the right path.
Those were the only two matches that Stephan has lost in this competition since replacing Bruno Genesio as coach last November.
With a victory on Saturday, Les Rouge et Noirs can match their second-longest winning run in Ligue 1 from a season ago (four), while two more triumphs would match the longest such streak for them from 2022-23.
Les Rennais finished fourth in the table a season ago, in large part because of their attacking prowess, scoring the third-most goals in the league (69), and they have been in much better attacking form lately, netting multiple times in three of their previous four matches in all competitions.
Heading into the second half of the domestic campaign, Rennes are seven points back of a place in Europe next season, with 12 fewer points at this stage of the season (25) than they had in 2022-23.
They are unbeaten in their last eight Ligue 1 home fixtures versus Montpellier, maintaining six clean sheets against them over that span.
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Montpellier remain winless in Ligue 1 this year, but their match last week was a small step in the right direction, holding fifth-place Lille to zero shots on target and posting their first domestic clean sheet of 2024.
Michel Der Zakarian's side are unbeaten in their last four top-flight home fixtures but have lost four of their previous five away contests in this competition, with their only victory coming at Metz last month (1-0).
Scoring goals has been a problem for this team all season long, with La Paillade tied for the third-fewest goals scored in the top flight (19), failing to net in consecutive domestic fixtures.
In 2023-24, Montpellier have not lost a domestic contest when scoring the opening goal but have dropped six points in this competition when doing so.
Those dropped points could have them in a much stronger position in the table, as they are currently just three points above Lyon in the relegation playoffs and four ahead of Clermont in the second relegation spot.
While they have not had much success against Rennes away from home, winless in eight successive games, Montpellier have kept them off the scoresheet in consecutive league contests, both of which took place on their home field.
Team News
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Fabian Rieder is dealing with a foot injury and will not be available to Rennes until March at the earliest, while Christopher Wooh could be back in the lineup after Cameroon were eliminated at the Africa Cup of Nations by Nigeria (2-0) last weekend.
From matchday 18 to 19, we saw one change to the Stade Rennais starting 11 with Jeanuel Belocian coming into the lineup, replacing Warmed Omari.
Martin Terrier notched a brace in their victory over Lyon, his first two goals of the season, with the other strike coming courtesy of Desire Doue, his third of the competition.
Montpellier's Boubakar Kouyate is in the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations with Mali, as is Falaye Sacko, Issiaga Sylla will be with Guinea, who are in the last eight of that tournament, and his side will face Dimitry Bertaud and the Congo in their next game, while Mousa Al-Tamari is in the last eight of the Asian Cup with Jordan.
Four new faces who did not begin their Coupe de France match versus SC Feignies (4-0 win) were in the starting 11 last weekend against Lille in Ligue 1, including Christopher Jullien, Lucas Mincarelli, Joris Chotard and Akor Adams.
Benjamin Lecomte has only had to make two combined stops in his last two matches between the sticks in all competitions, collecting back-to-back clean sheets.
Rennes possible starting lineup:
Mandanda; Assignon, Belocian, Theate, Truffert; Bourigeaud, Le Fee, Santamaria, Blas; Kalimuendo, Terrier
Montpellier HSC possible starting lineup:
Lecomte; Hefti, Omeragic, Jullien, Esteve, Sainte-Luce; Ferri, Savanier, Chotard; Khazri, Coulibaly
We say: Rennes 3-1 Montpellier HSC
Rennes seem to have found their scoring touch while Montpellier are still searching for theirs, and we believe the visitors will have difficulty doing much except perhaps fending off Les Rennais for a period of time.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joel Lefevre
