Lyon welcome Reims to the Groupama Stadium on Wednesday evening for the 16th round of Ligue 1 matches.
The hosts are in good form and sit 7th in the table despite having a game in hand, whilst the visitors are down in 14th but come into the game on the back of their first win in a while.
Match preview
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Lyon turned what could have been a very tough week into a largely positive one with two victories in the space of three days.
First came a 3-1 win away at Brondby in the Europa Conference League on Thursday, and then a narrow 1-0 victory over Montpellier, thanks to a Lucas Paqueta goal in the 17th minute.
Their match last weekend with Marseille was abandoned after just five minutes of play when Dimitri Payet was once again hit by a bottle thrown from the stands.
The incident has led to Les Gones being ordered to play home games behind closed doors until at least December 8 when a ruling will be made, and Wednesday's game will be the first example of how they cope with playing in an empty stadium.
Of course, that is far from a new experience for a generation of players who have dealt with sport during a pandemic, but Peter Bosz will be hoping his players have not become too reliant on home support, considering their away record this season, which has seen them lose four of seven matches on the road.
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He will be reassured, though, by Reims' away record, which also leaves a lot to be desired.
Les rouges et blancs have managed just one win from eight matches on their travels, although four of those have ended in draws.
Their most recent match was in the familiar surroundings of the Stade Auguste-Delaune II and resulted in a last-gasp victory over struggling Clermont, with Ghislain Konan netting the only goal of the game in the 91st minute.
That was Reims' first win since September and will have gone a long way to make up for their heartbreaking draw seven days earlier, when Strasbourg equalised in the 96th minute.
There is still much work to do, however, with Oscar Garcia's side just three points clear of the relegation playoff spot in what is a very congested bottom half of the table.
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Team News
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Defender Sinaly Diomande is expected to miss up to a month out with a badly-sprained ankle, with Malo Gusto, Jerome Boateng, Jason Denayer and Emerson set to line up in a back four.
Leo Dubois is also sidelined for around the same length of time, and Lenny Pintor and Jeff Reine-Adelaide are long-term absences with ACL injuries.
Reims have a fairly lengthy injury list, with Fode Doucoure (muscle), Thomas Foket (calf), Marshall Munetsi (muscle), Fraser Hornby (muscle) and Arber Zeneli (ACL) all still sidelined.
Midfielder Azor Matusiwa also serves a one-game ban and all that leaves Garcia with very few options in terms of tinkering with his side, so there is a strong possibility of the starting XI remaining the same bar the missing midfielder.
Lyon possible starting lineup:
Lopes; Gusto, Boateng, Denayer, Emerson; Guimaraes, Caqueret; Ekambi, Paqeuta, Aouar, Dembele
Reims possible starting lineup:
Rajkovic; Gravillon, Faes, Abdelhamid, Konan; Cafaro, Lopy, Cassama; Kebbal, Ekitike, Toure
We say: Lyon 2-1 Reims
Even without their home support, Lyon should have enough to see off a Reims team who do not fare well on the road. We are backing a narrow victory for Les Gones on this occasion.
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 Lyon win with a probability of 74.42%. A draw had a probability of 15.9% and a win for Reims had a probability of 9.66%.
The most likely scoreline for a Lyon win was 2-0 with a probability of 12.1%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (9.9%) and 3-0 (9.86%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (7.54%), while for a Reims win it was 0-1 (3.08%). The actual scoreline of 1-2 was predicted with a 2.9% likelihood.
