The first match of the 34th round of the French Ligue 1, brings us two teams that are still in the competition for Europe, but Nantes is currently ninth on the table and has two points less than the fifth Rennes. However, we must point out that both teams are in a slight decline of form, while their fall duel in Rennes ended with a 2-1 victory of the host.
Of course, Nantes will now try to win on their field, especially since they would thus overpass the team of Rennes again, but it will not be a tricky task, which is best confirmed by the fact that they were last defeated four years ago as guests. However, it is very sad that they celebrated their last victory at home over Rennes in the late 2005, so coach Ranieri’s players have to give their maximum on Friday night to get to all three points.
However, their form is not very commendable, since they only won two points in the last four rounds of Ligue 1, against Metz away and last weekend at home over Dijon, while they were defeated at home by St. Etienn and away against Monaco. However, thanks to the great performances in the fall part of the championship, they are still in the fifth place of Europa league, while we also need to know that center-back Diego Carlos and midfielders Krhin and Kayembe should miss this match due to injuries.
Probable lineups FC Nantes: Tatarusanu – Dubois, Djidji, Pallois, Lima – Iloki, Toure, Rongier, Thomasson – Nakoulma, Sala
We have already said that Rennes is welcoming this direct defeat for placement in Europa league qualifies in a slight drop of form because after two draws in a row, they were defeated last weekend on their field with 2-1 from the last Metz. Of course, this result has been a surprise to all fans of this team, especially when we know that after a series of four wins and three draws, they have for the first time this season, taken the lead in Europa League.
But besides this blunder in the match with Metz, coach Lamouchi’s players have still retained the fifth place on the table, but also their point backlogs for the teams from sixth to ninth place are really small, so we expect a very interesting fight for that last place in Europe. That is why Rennes will now against their direct rival Nantes try to avoid defeat at least, especially because only the injured defender Traore is still out of action.
Probable lineups Stade Rennes: Koubek – Danze, Gelin, Gnagnon, Bensebaini – Andre, Prcic – Bourigeaud, Khazri, Sarr – Sakho
Since this is a direct clash for placement in Europe, it is expected that both teams will be more defensive and aiming to remain undefeated, which only means there should not be too many goals.
Pick: under 2.5 goals
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