Bordeaux will be continuing their fight against relegation this Sunday, hoping to end their six-match run without a victory when they host Montpellier HSC.
The visitors have the opportunity to move into the top half of Ligue 1 with a victory at the weekend, potentially being able to climb up to eighth place.
Match preview
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Bordeaux have had a difficult season so far, winning only four times in the first 28 fixtures, which is something that they desperately need to change in order to fight against the threat of relegation.
The club are currently propping up the table, sitting bottom, and they are five points away from safety, placing some pressure on the upcoming matches to try and close that gap.
The club have gone six games consecutively without a victory, managing just two draws during that period, and three of those fixtures saw the team fail to score a single goal.
That was the case during Bordeaux's last outing where they were defeated 3-0 by Paris Saint-Germain, with Kylian Mbappe, Neymar and Leandro Paredes all finding the back of the net in that match.
David Guion's men have struggled at home throughout this season, winning just twice in front of their own fans, which is something that they will be hoping to improve upon within the final section of the campaign.
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While Montpellier are much further up in the table, the squad are also suffering a difficult period, having only managed one victory in their last six fixtures.
The team have also not thrived on the road this season either, winning just four games, but against a club with poor home form, they will no doubt be confident of adding to that.
Olivier Dall'Oglio's squad were held to a goalless draw last weekend against Nice, being unable to break their opponents down, despite the fact they only had 10 men for the final 20 minutes.
However, Montpellier still find themselves 11th in the table, with a great chance of progressing into the top half, as they sit just a point behind several teams ahead of them, as a victory could see them climb into eighth place.
The last time these two teams met it was a goal-fest, as the match ended 3-3, with Bordeaux's Samuel Kalu scoring in the 85th minute, but the visitors will be aiming for a more controlled performance on Sunday.
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Team News
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The hosts have been without their first-choice goalkeeper as of late, with Benoit Costil dealing with a calf problem, and Gaetan Poussin will retain his place in the team until that injury clears up.
M'Baye Niang was not fit enough to start last weekend, only appearing from the bench after tweaking his ankle in training, but he could be an option from the first minute this time around.
Bordeaux do have several injury problems to consider though, as Jimmy Briand, Tom Lacoux, Ricardo Mangas and Amadou Traore are all unavailable heading into this one.
The visitors also have their own list of long-term issues, with Pedro Mendes and Thibault Tamas being out of action because of ACL problems, while Mamadou Sakho also has fitness concerns.
Stephy Mavididi was unavailable last weekend because of a sprained knee, and missing him proved to be an issue as the squad failed to score a goal, but he does remain a doubt this time around.
Bordeaux possible starting lineup:
Poussin; Rode Gregersen, Marcelo, Ahmedhodzic; Oudin, Guilavogui, Onana, Kwateng; Elis, Adil; Hwang
Montpellier HSC possible starting lineup:
Omlin; Souquet, Cozza, Esteve, Ristic; Chotard, Ferri; Mollet, Savanier, Wahi; Germain
We say: Bordeaux 0-1 Montpellier HSC
Neither team is in good form heading into this match, which is something that they will need to work on in order to improve for the run in during this season.
Bordeaux shall be seeking out three points in order to try and stay in the top flight, but Montpellier do have the stronger squad, and should be able to just edge this one.
Top tip
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 Bordeaux win with a probability of 40.1%. A win for Montpellier HSC had a probability of 34.13% and a draw had a probability of 25.8%.
The most likely scoreline for a Bordeaux win was 1-0 with a probability of 9.53%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.64%) and 2-0 (6.73%). The likeliest Montpellier HSC win was 0-1 (8.65%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.22%). The actual scoreline of 0-2 was predicted with a 5.6% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted that Montpellier HSC would win this match.
