Matchday Three of the new Ligue 1 season will feature the second highest-scoring team in the 2021-22 top-flight campaign, Rennes, taking on newly-promoted Ajaccio at Roazhon Park on Sunday.
Both sides have just a single point to their names thus far as Les Rouge et Noir drew Monaco 1-1 last Saturday, while L'ours settled for a 0-0 draw with Lens.
Match preview
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The league season is still young, but the early indications for the club based in Brittany are not good, as Rennes have only tallied once in two games, despite having attempted the most shots to this point of the campaign (45).
Sitting in 17th position is not the way Bruno Genesio had envisioned they would start this competition, especially coming off a season in which they finished fourth and earned a spot in Europe for the second time in three years.
They have carried the play in their two fixtures, with more than 60% possession versus Lorient and Monaco, but their quality in front of goal has let them down.
Outside of PSG, this was one of the deepest offensive units in the league over the previous campaign, as 14 different players scored for them domestically, with three reaching double digits.
Despite their poor start to 2022-23, there are some encouraging statistics in their favour heading into this encounter, including the fact that they have never started a top-flight season with back-to-back home defeats.
Rennes also come into this encounter unbeaten in their last nine home affairs against the club from Corsica, with their previous Ligue 1 defeat against them coming back in May of 1971 (1-0).
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After being denied a possible berth in the French top-flight two seasons ago when the COVID pandemic halted a campaign in which they were two points out of second, Ajaccio are back in Ligue 1 for the first time since 2013-14.
Manager Olivier Pantaloni has overseen the progression of this team since 2014, guiding them to the playoffs in 2017-18 before finally getting back into the top tier when they came in second in Ligue 2 last season.
The 55-year-old boss is very familiar with Corsica having played the majority of his youth career there, while featuring for L'ours as a player in between 1994 and 2000.
Pantaloni has an aggressive tackling team, who rely on a zonal block, two tactics which were executed effectively in the second-tier last season when Ajaccio conceded just 19 goals in 38 fixtures, 17 fewer than the top defensive unit in Ligue 1 in 2021-22 (PSG).
So far this season, they have looked a little intimidated and out of their element in the early stages of their matches, allowing two goals to Lyon in their first game back into the top-flight, which they lost 2-1.
They have only won one of their last 38 away fixtures in Ligue 1, winning at Toulouse in November 2012 (4-2) and beating Valenciennes in March 2014 (3-2).
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Team News
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Gaetan Laborde, who was second in goals for Rennes last season (15), tallied their first of the new campaign last week, with Benjamin Bourigeaud assisting on the play.
Martin Terrier, who found the back of the net 21 times in the previous campaign, is still searching for his first of 2022-23.
Bourigeaud led them in assists a season ago with 13, three more than Hamari Traore, while newcomers Joe Rodon and Arthur Theate have featured in the starting 11 in their opening two fixtures this year and Arnaud Kalimuendo made his debut for Les Rennais last weekend, replacing Lovro Majer early in the second half.
Warmed Omari is not expected back until late September because of a groin issue, Birger Meling has a problem with his thigh and Lorenz Assignon is nursing a muscle strain.
Veteran Steve Mandanda was taken out of their previous match with a sprained knee which means Dogan Alemdar is likely to start in goal for this encounter.
Thomas Mangani has the only goal for Ajaccio so far this season, while Riad Nouri led them in goals over the previous campaign with nine and Yanis Cimignani chipped in with four.
Romain Hamouma missed their second match through suspension after the former Saint-Etienne winger was shown two yellow cards in the first half of his debut match with his new club.
We saw three changes to their starting 11 versus Lens as Fernand Mayembo was inserted at the back instead of Cedric Avinel, Mickael Barreto took the place of Cyrille Bayala in midfield and Hamouma was replaced by Bevic Moussiti-Oko in the attack.
Rennes possible starting lineup:
Alemdar; Truffert, Theate, Rodon, Traore; Tait, Santamaria, D. Doue; Terrier, Laborde, Bourigeaud
Ajaccio possible starting lineup:
Leroy; Diallo, Avinel, Gonzalez, Alphonse; Barreto, Mangani, Coutadeur, Cimignani; Moussiti-Oko, El Idrissy
We say: Rennes 2-0 Ajaccio
We believe there is just too much quality and experience on the Rennes side for the visitors to handle in this weekend fixture.
As good as L'ours were defensively a season ago, the strikers in the top-flight are far superior to the ones in Ligue 2 and outside of PSG, Rennes possess some of the best offensive weapons in the league.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Joel Lefevre
