Brest will be looking to back up their maiden victory of the 2021-22 Ligue 1 campaign with another three points when they travel to face Lorient on Sunday afternoon.
A win could be enough to drag Brest out of the bottom three for the first time since late August, whilst Lorient are looking to distance themselves from an ever-growing relegation scrap.
Match preview
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Victory over Monaco in surprising fashion last weekend ended a run of 15 matches without a win for Brest, having failed to win any of their opening 11 games this term, or their closing four from last season.
Having looked to have steered clear of relegation for most of the previous campaign, a torrid end to the season saw them dragged into the battle against the drop, only finishing one point above 17th-placed Nantes.
Brest have not yet learned from the mistakes that almost saw them relegated for the first time since earning promotion to Ligue 1 in 2018-19 and are floating dangerously above the drop zone once more.
Which is why when they were able to see off European-chasing Monaco last weekend, while keeping their first clean sheet in the league since May, it came as a surprise to manager Michel Der Zakarian.
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Having arrived at the start of the season, Der Zakarian had witnessed his side fail to win any his opening 11 games in charge, with the Monaco victory coming at the perfect time for Brest to now kick on and attempt to revive their season.
However, if they are to make it back-to-back victories on Sunday, they will have to arrest a run of nine visits to Lorient without a win.
Largely having the upper-hand over Brest in recent years, Lorient have lost one of the pair's previous four competitive matches, and their current league position suggests they will once again provide tough opposition to the Pirates.
One defeat from their opening nine matches gave Lorient an outside chance of pushing for a European spot, yet a dire October has left the Merlucciidaes scratching around in mid-table.
They will welcome Brest in the midst of their longest winless run of the season, with their last three points coming against Nice all the way back in September.
With the horrors of October now behind them, Lorient will sense a return to winning ways could be on the cards when Brest visit the Stade du Moustoir on Sunday.
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Team News
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Brest's chances may be made a little easier given the absence of Armand Lauriente from the Lorient attacking line, with the forward having been absent for the previous two matches.
Lauriente's four goals for the season had been part of the reason behind Lorient's strong start, but in his place Terem Moffi will be hoping to end a run of six appearances without finding the net.
Thomas Monconduit is also unlikely to feature for the hosts due to a sustained muscle injury, whilst Julien Laporte still has two more matches to sit out following a red card picked up against Bordeaux.
For Brest, their only absentees are players who are yet to feature for the Pirates this season, with Paul Lasne still recovering from an Anterior Cruciate Ligament problem, while Sebastien Cibois (Achilles) is still a couple of weeks away from a return.
Most of their survival hopes could rest on the shoulders of Franck Honorat, whose four goals this season make up nearly a third of all of those scored by Brest.
Elsewhere, Marco Bizot will be targeting his second clean sheet of the season, while at the opposite end Steve Mounie is looking to score in consecutive games for the first time since September 2020.
Lorient possible starting lineup:
Nardi; Mendes, Morel, Jenz; Carioca, Lemoine, Abergel, Le Goff; Boisgard, Moffi, Diarra
Brest possible starting lineup:
Bizot; Pierre-Gabriel, Chardonnet, Herelle, Duverne; Magnetti, Belkebla; Faivre, Le Douaron, Honorat; Mounie
We say: Lorient 1-1 Brest
These are the sort of fixtures that theoretically could define Brest's season come the end of the campaign, and taking points from them is crucial in their bid to survive.
History suggests their visits to face Lorient often end badly, with another winless trip the likely outcome in this one.
Top tip
Amos Murphy
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 Lorient win with a probability of 46.58%. A win for Brest had a probability of 26.73% and a draw had a probability of 26.7%.
The most likely scoreline for a Lorient win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.46%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.99%) and 2-0 (8.89%). The likeliest Brest win was 0-1 (8.84%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.6%). The actual scoreline of 1-2 was predicted with a 6.4% likelihood.
