Two sides struggling for wins in the French top flight will do battle at the Stade de la Beaujoire on Sunday afternoon when Nantes play host to Dijon.
Les Canaris are on a four-game winless run in Ligue 1 and were thrashed 4-0 by Strasbourg last time out, whereas Dijon managed to take a point from their clash with Saint-Etienne.
Match preview
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Not a single Strasbourg fan could have foreseen their side hitting Nantes for four last weekend, but Les Canaris were simply torn apart by the 18th-placed team on their own turf last Sunday.
Habib Diallo, Ludovic Ajorque, Dimitri Lienard and Kevin Zohi all found the back of the net in a result which brought the curtain down on Christian Gourcuff's time in the dugout, with Nantes confirming on Tuesday that the 65-year-old had been sacked - the third managerial casualty of the Ligue 1 season.
Patrick Collot will take the reins for now, and the interim Nantes manager could hardly be handed a more welcome fixture for his inaugural game in the dugout, with a home clash with basement side Dijon representing a brilliant opportunity for Collot to endear himself to the Canaris faithful straight away.
Collot will be tasked with creating some breathing space between Nantes and the relegation zone, with Les Canaris currently 14th in the table after 13 matches, and they are unlikely to rise any higher with a win given Metz's superior goal difference at present.
Nantes are yet to keep a clean sheet on home soil this season but may feel confident of recording a shut-out against Dijon, who have only mustered eight strikes in the 2020-21 campaign.
Les Hiboux are another side to have switched managers this term after Stephane Jobard was let go, and his replacement David Linares has certainly helped steady the ship in his first few weeks in the dugout.
Dijon are still rooted to the bottom of the table, but Linares's side have only tasted defeat once in their last five outings and are now level on points with Lorient, who are only ahead of Les Hiboux on goal difference.
Ligue 1's basement side could not find a way past a lowly Saint-Etienne side last time out as they played out a goalless stalemate with Les Verts, but Linares had steered his side to their first win of the season in gameweek 12 over Nice - with that 3-1 win costing Patrick Vieira his job in the Aiglons dugout.
Nantes scraped a 1-0 win in this fixture with Dijon last season before the two clubs played out an enthralling 3-3 draw back in February.
Nantes Ligue 1 form: LWDDLL
Dijon Ligue 1 form: LDDLWD
Team News
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Nantes are still waiting for Charles Traore to recover from coronavirus, but Fabio should retain his spot at left-back nonetheless.
Strikers Kalifa Coulibaly and Jean-Kevin Augustin are not expected to be involved, with the former nursing a hamstring problem, while Augustin is being forced to train alone to regain his match fitness.
It remains to be seen how Collot will line up for his inaugural game in the dugout, but Imran Louza and Pedro Chirivella will hope to be given the chance to impress the new manager.
Dijon will have to make do without Pape Cheikh as he serves a suspension for an accumulation of yellow cards, but Fouad Chafik returns from a ban of his own.
Chafik could potentially come in for Rennes loanee Sacha Boey at right-back, but Linares will be reluctant to make too many alterations after two solid performances.
Jordan Marie should fill the void left by Cheikh in midfield, with Wesley Lautoa expected to remain out despite returning to training after a broken toe.
Nantes possible starting lineup:
Lafont; Corchia, Pallois, Girotto, Fabio; Chirivella, Abeid; Louza, Blas, Simon; Kolo Muani
Dijon possible starting lineup:
Racioppi; Boey, Panzo, Manga, Muzinga; Ndong, Marie; Ebimbe, Celina, Chouiar; Balde
We say: Nantes 0-1 Dijon
Goals are evidently still a problem for Dijon despite their improvement over the past few weeks, but Linares has certainly brought an air of positivity to the Hiboux camp since taking charge. Nantes will no doubt want to get off to a fast start under Collot but are sure to have that thrashing against Strasbourg still fresh in their minds, so we would not put it past the visitors to nick a win here.
Top betting 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 Nantes win with a probability of 47.57%. A draw had a probability of 27.3% and a win for Dijon had a probability of 25.1%.
The most likely scoreline for a Nantes win was 1-0 with a probability of 13.74%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (9.52%) and 2-1 (8.81%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.71%), while for a Dijon win it was 0-1 (9.18%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with a 12.7% likelihood.
