Nantes and Strasbourg will each be looking to maintain their solid starts to the Ligue 1 campaign when they meet at Stade de la Beaujoire on Sunday afternoon.
The sides enter this contest level on 17 points after the first 12 rounds of matches in the French top flight, just two points off a European spot.
Match preview
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Nantes suffered a first defeat in four matches last time out when going down 2-0 away at Montpellier through goals from Florent Mollet and Elye Wahi.
Despite that loss, which followed a return of seven points from nine in games with Troyes, Bordeaux and Clermont, Nantes remain ninth with nearly a third of the campaign played.
The Yellow House have been superb at home of late, winning each of their last three - their best such run since between August and October 2019, when winning four on the spin.
Of more concern to Antoine Kombouare will be his side's defensive record, having kept only one clean sheet in their last 10 Ligue 1 games, conceding 13 goals across that period.
Ultimately, though, sitting in the top half at this stage after only narrowly avoiding relegation last season marks an impressive turnaround for Nantes.
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Strasbourg are also enjoying a far more positive 2021-22 campaign compared to last season and will see this as a realistic chance to add three more points to the board.
The Racers lost 1-0 to Rennes last time out on their travels, though that defeat was sandwiched by 5-1 and 4-0 wins at home to Saint-Etienne and Lorient respectively.
Indeed, Strasbourg's return of five wins from their last nine Ligue 1 matches is as many as they managed in their previous 22 fixtures in the competition.
Julien Stephan's men have found the net in eight of their last nine Ligue 1 away games, meanwhile, though that solitary blank came last time out on their travels against Rennes.
However, not since the start of 2018-19 have they gone successive away top-flight matches without netting, while only two sides in the division have scored more times this term.
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Team News
Nantes have Sebastien Corchia back from a one-match suspension for this contest and the right-back will likely slot straight back into the side in place of Dennis Appiah.
Ludovic Blas, Osman Bukari and Quentin Merlin are all nursing injuries and are unlikely to feature this weekend.
Randal Kolo Muani was given the nod to lead the line against Montpellier, but Kalifa Coulibaly is pushing for inclusion here.
As for Strasbourg, Maxime Le Marchand is back from suspension for this trip to Nantes, but Kevin Gameiro, Karol Fila and Lebo Mothiba are all fitness doubts.
Habib Diallo scored twice in the 4-0 win over Lorient and now has six goals for the season.
Ludovic Ajorque also has five to his name, making Strasbourg one of only six teams in Europe's top five leagues with two players on at least five goals.
Both players seem certain to start at Stade de la Beaujoire, with minimal changes - if any - likely on the back of the thumping victory last time out.
Nantes possible starting lineup:
Lafont; Corchia, Castelletto, Pallois, Traore; Girotto, Chirivella; Coco, Sa, Simon; Muani
Strasbourg possible starting lineup:
Sels; Guilbert, Perrin, Nyamsi, Dijku, Caci; Sissoko, Prcic, Thomasson; Diallo, Ajorque
We say: Nantes 1-1 Strasbourg
Both sides can be more than happy with their starts to the 2021-22 campaign and will each consider this a good chance to climb further up the division.
Strasbourg have racked up big wins in two of their last three games, while Nantes have won three in a row on home soil, so we are expecting the sides to cancel each other out here.
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 Nantes win with a probability of 49.86%. A draw had a probability of 26.9% and a win for Strasbourg had a probability of 23.22%.
The most likely scoreline for a Nantes win was 1-0 with a probability of 14.13%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (10.11%) and 2-1 (8.94%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.49%), while for a Strasbourg win it was 0-1 (8.73%). The actual scoreline of 2-2 was predicted with a 4% likelihood.
