Paris Saint-Germain will look to maintain their lead of eight points at the top of Ligue 1 when they meet Lille at the Parc des Princes on Friday.
However, they face a tough task against a potentially dangerous Lille side, who are sitting just three points off second-placed Marseille.
Match preview
© Reuters
Despite a few early hiccups, PSG have reached a stage in the season whereby their supremacy over the division becomes visible when looking at the table.
Indeed, it was understood by most even back in August that PSG would inevitably claim their seventh Ligue 1 title in eight years come May, such is the sheer quality of their squad compared to the rest of the division.
However, this is not to demean the work done by Tuchel, who has had to navigate most of the 2019-20 season so far without the help of star players Kylian Mbappe and Neymar due to injuries.
The German's championing and successful ingratiating of several lesser known players, such as Abdou Diallo and Colin Dagba, has been an impressive feature of his management of what can be a tricky group of personalities so far this term.
Yet while victory over Lille would be a big step towards asserting a firmer grip on the title, PSG players and Tuchel will know that their main emphasis has to be on taking the same ruthless attitude into their meeting with Real Madrid at the Bernabeu in the Champions League on Tuesday.
© Reuters
Last season, it was Lille - not Monaco, Lyon or Marseille - who came the closest to PSG's total of 95 points, demonstrating that this is a team capable of maintaining a high level of performance.
The arrival of the highly-experienced Christophe Galtier in December 2017, midway through a season that saw Lille finish 17th, injected a new sense of purpose and design to a hitherto demoralised group of players.
Following a summer of hard work on the training ground - Lille spent less than £10m on transfers in 2018 - Galtier's men entered last season with a simple yet remarkably effective tactical blueprint revolving around a balanced counter-attacking game whereby five attacking players shoot forward in deeply organised fashion.
Now with the added burden of playing in the Champions League, Lille find themselves tasked with the fresh challenge of adopting the mentality of a big team - one that emphasises the importance of controlling games and carefully managing its resources.
As they head into the meeting with PSG, Galtier's men must take inspiration from the fact that they thrashed Tuchel's men 5-1 in April and enter this game on a level psychological playing field with the Ligue 1 champions.
Recent Paris Saint-Germain form: WWWLWW
Recent Lille form: LDWLLD
Team News
© Reuters
PSG continue to be without Neymar due to a hamstring problem, while Keylor Navas and Thomas Meunier are doubts for the game.
Marco Verratti has an outside chance of playing and Thilo Kehrer is back in training, although Ander Herrera, Mbappe and Loic Mbe Soh are all definitely ruled out.
Lille, on the other hand, have no injured players who are likely to return in time for this affair.
Youngsters Jonathan Ikone, Saad Agouzoul, Timothy Weah and Boubakary Soumare all picked up injuries earlier this month and there is no timescale on when they might return.
Paris Saint-Germain possible starting lineup:
Rico; Dagba, Diallo, Silva, Kurzawa; Marquinhos, Gueye; Sarabia, Draxler, Di Maria; Cavani
Lille possible starting lineup:
Maignan; Celik, Fonte, Gabriel, Mandava; Xeka, Andre; Bamba, Yazici, Araujo; Osimhen
We say: Paris Saint-Germain 3-0 Lille
Lille are currently experiencing a patch of poor form, winning just one of their last six games, and will not have enough power to keep at bay a ruthless PSG side who have scored eight goals in their last two Ligue 1 games at home.
No Data Analysis info