Paris Saint-Germain will be looking to recover from their disheartening Champions League defeat to Manchester United when the Ligue 1 champions welcome basement side Dijon to the Parc des Princes on Saturday.
The visitors are rooted to the bottom of the table after seven matches but managed to walk away with a point against Rennes last time out.
Match preview
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With PSG's status as perennial French champions firmly cemented, the Ligue 1 giants no doubt have one eye on the big prize in the form of the Champions League, but last season's runners-up were no match for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's Red Devils in the opening round of fixtures in midweek.
Goals from Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford either side of an own goal from Anthony Martial saw United make the short journey back to England with all three points on Tuesday, with the formidable PSG attack nullified by the youthful defenders in the Red Devils' ranks – with Axel Tuanzebe and Aaron Wan-Bissaka unphased by facing Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Angel Di Maria.
PSG's route to the knockout stages may not be as smooth as the capital outfit would have hoped – especially with RB Leipzig also occupying a spot in Group H – but Thomas Tuchel's men will now look to stretch their winning run in the league to six matches against Dijon this weekend.
The champions have fully recovered from two early defeats to Lens and Marseille and have notched up 10 goals in their last two league outings – with a 6-1 thrashing of Angers preceding a 4-0 victory at Nimes last weekend – and no side can boast more than PSG's tally of 16 goals thus far.
With a hectic fixture schedule and a lengthy list of absentees to contend with, it would not be a surprise to see Tuchel ring the changes for the visit of Dijon, who are still searching for their first victory of the 2020-21 campaign.
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Dijon were certainly not expected to come away from their meeting with Rennes with anything to show for it, but the division's basement side managed to pick up just their second point of the season following a 1-1 stalemate with the Champions League contenders.
Rennes broke the deadlock through Martin Terrier's first-time finish, but Stephane Jobard's men ensured that the points were shared as Mama Balde levelled brilliantly with a solo effort.
That one-pointer against Rennes will feel more like three for a struggling Dijon outfit, although the Hiboux faithful are still awaiting those highly sought-after three points after seven gameweeks, with Jobard's side notching up a mere four goals and conceding 14 in the early stages of the 2020-21 season.
Nevertheless, Les Hiboux have now taken points off of two European-chasing sides in Rennes and Montpellier in the past few weeks, but Dijon are facing the hilliest of uphill battles to avoid a trouncing at the hands of a PSG side intent on returning to winning ways.
Incredibly, Dijon managed to overcome PSG 2-1 at home last season, but the champions soon put things right at the Parc des Princes with a 4-0 victory in February, while Tuchel's men also dispatched Les Hiboux 6-1 in the Coupe de France quarter finals.
Paris Saint-Germain Ligue 1 form: LWWWWW
Paris Saint-Germain form (all competitions): WWWWWL
Dijon Ligue 1 form: LLLDLD
Team News
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Di Maria and Layvin Kurzawa are still suspended for PSG, with Pablo Sarabia and Mitchel Bakker set to come back into the side for Saturday's game.
Julian Draxler and Marquinhos returned from injury to occupy spots on the substitutes bench against United and both men have a chance of featuring from the off here, with Tuchel also having to keep in mind next week's trip to Istanbul Basaksehir in the Champions League.
Mbappe is due a rest at some point and could very well be granted it here, with Moise Kean eyeing a starting role after being brought on at half time in Tuesday's defeat, although the young Italian did not enjoy the best of halves against the Red Devils.
Mauro Icardi, Juan Bernat, Thilo Kehrer, Leandro Paredes and Marco Verratti all remain on the treatment table for the champions, while midfielder Idrissa Gueye will also be out for a number of weeks with a hamstring injury sustained in midweek.
As for Dijon, Jobard is likely to be without Roger Assale again this weekend, but few changes are expected from the draw with Rennes.
Left-back Anibal Chala was hauled off at half time in that 1-1 stalemate but should keep his spot in the starting XI here, while another alteration could see Pape Cheikh replace Wesley Lautoa in midfield.
Paris Saint-Germain possible starting lineup:
Navas; Florenzi, Marquinhos, Kimpembe, Bakker; Pereira, Herrera, Draxler; Sarabia, Kean, Neymar
Dijon possible starting lineup:
Allagbe; Chafik, Manga, Panzo, Chala; Ndong, Cheikh; Ebimbe, Sammaritano, Chouiar; Balde
We say: Paris Saint-Germain 5-0 Dijon
If there was ever a team that PSG would want to be facing in order to boost their confidence levels after a dampening defeat, it is Dijon. The champions have slayed most who have stood before them recently and Tuchel's attackers can look forward to a field day against the division's basement side - this is set to be one-way traffic from the first whistle.
Top betting tip
Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting over 3.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Over 3.5:data
Ben Knapton
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 Paris Saint-Germain win with a probability of 83.82%. A draw had a probability of 11.7% and a win for Dijon had a probability of 4.43%.
The most likely scoreline for a Paris Saint-Germain win was 2-0 with a probability of 15.47%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 3-0 (13.75%) and 1-0 (11.6%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (5.44%), while for a Dijon win it was 0-1 (2.04%). The actual scoreline of 4-0 was predicted with a 9.2% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Paris Saint-Germain would win this match.
