Aiming to end a year of significant change with a third win on the trot, Strasbourg host Lille in their final Ligue 1 game of 2023 at the Stade de la Meinau on Wednesday evening.
Patrick Vieira's team heightened Lorient's relegation fears with a 2-1 beating of Les Merlus at the weekend, while the visitors left it late to deny Paris Saint-Germain victory in a 1-1 stalemate.
Match preview
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A celebrated name at Lorient during his three years at the club from 2008 to 2011, 36-year-old Strasbourg talisman Kevin Gameiro returned to his old headquarters on Sunday afternoon, where he helped to consolidate Les Coureurs' mid-table ranking at the potential expense of Lorient's survival.
After Dilane Bakwa had opened the scoring with 14 minutes gone, Gameiro fired in a sublime swerving half-volley four minutes after the restart and could not help but crack a smile while trying to tone down his celebrations, but Bamba Dieng would reduce the arrears to one after another four minutes had passed.
Nevertheless, Strasbourg would ultimately ride out a nail-biting final 40 minutes to post back-to-back victories for the first time this season, having ended an abysmal eight-game winless streak by downing Le Havre 2-1 on December 10, and mid-table security is their reward.
Closer to the continental places than the relegation zone, the ninth-placed hosts are only six points worse off than Marseille and eight clear of Lorient in the automatic demotion spots, thanks also in no small part to a respectable run of four draws from five games during their winless sequence.
The beating of Lorient also marked the fifth Ligue 1 contest in a row where Vieira's men have both scored and conceded, and after opening 2022 with three successive wins - the last time they achieved such a sequence - it would only be fitting for Strasbourg to close out 2023 in identical fashion.
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A Lille side aiming to preserve their own golden streak have every intention of playing the role of party poopers, though, as a last-gasp intervention from Jonathan David stretched Les Dogues' unbeaten run to 15 matches in all competitions when the champions came to town.
Boasting five successive clean sheets heading into Sunday's intriguing battle, Lille's defensive resolve was ultimately broken when Kylian Mbappe netted from the penalty spot, but with four minutes of added time on the clock, David was in the right place at the right time to nod home after a saved Adam Ounas strike fell kindly for him.
Sharing the spoils for the 15th time in 2023 - more than any other team in the French top flight - Lille have successfully juggled their domestic and European commitments to cement a fourth-placed standing in the table, good enough for a Champions League qualifying berth as they lead Brest on goal difference.
Not since a 2-1 home reverse at the hands of Reims in late September have Paulo Fonseca's men lost a top-flight match - going without defeat in their last 10 and only conceding three goals in the process - but victory on Wednesday would be just their fifth on the road in Ligue 1 in 2023.
Success on Strasbourg soil has been customary for Lille in recent times, though, as they have beaten Les Coureurs in seven of their last eight battles - including four on the trot at the Stade de la Meinau - and have not lost to their hosts in the top flight since August 2017.
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Vieira's Strasbourg departed the Stade du Moustoir at the weekend with another trio of injury concerns to deal with, as left-back Thomas Delaine went off in the first half before Abakar Sylla was forced to call it a day not long after the restart.
The hosting manager has confirmed that both Delaine (ankle) and Sylla (concussion) will not be available for Wednesday's game, while substitute Lebo Mothiba was stretchered off deep into added time, by which point Strasbourg had already used up all five of their substitutions.
There are fears that the striker has become the latest victim of an ACL rupture - a cruel blow for a player who was sidelined for nearly two years with a previous knee injury - and the three players join Gerzino Nyamsi (pectoral), Ismael Doukoure (ankle) and Maxime Bastian (muscle) in the medical bay.
In contrast, Lille came out of their hard-fought draw with PSG unscathed on the physical front, leaving Tiago Djalo - who is on the mend from his own devastating cruciate ligament injury - as their sole occupant of the infirmary.
Canadian hotshot David failed to make a Ligue 1 starting lineup for just the third time this season at the weekend, but the 23-year-old will almost certainly be reinstated to the Dogues attack here as he endeavours to continue his magnificent run against Strasbourg.
Indeed, David has struck six goals from six previous contests with Les Coureurs - netting braces in both of their showdowns last season - and only against Lyon has he performed as well versus a single opponent.
Strasbourg possible starting lineup:
Sels; Guilbert, Perrin, Sow, Sobol; Mwanga, Sissoko; Bakwa, Gameiro, Diarra; Emegha
Lille possible starting lineup:
Chevalier; Diakite, Yoro, Alexsandro, Ismaily; Gomes, Andre; Zhegrova, Cabella, Ounas; David
We say: Strasbourg 0-2 Lille
Forced into at least two alterations against a defensively-sound Lille unit, Strasbourg's hopes of ending the year on a high may be unfounded on Wednesday, especially when their recent miserable streak against Les Dogues is also taken into account.
Fonseca's men have found victories on the road hard to come by throughout all of 2023, but with a fresh-legged David coming up against one of his favourite opponents, the visitors should head into the winter break sitting pretty in the top four courtesy of a routine victory.
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Top tip
Ben Knapton
