Lyon will endeavour to climb to the top of the Ligue 1 rankings - temporarily at least - when they travel to the Stade Auguste-Delaune to take on an improving Reims on Friday night.
Both teams go into this game searching for back-to-back wins, as Reims scraped a 2-1 victory at Nantes last time out while Lyon returned to winning ways with a 1-0 triumph over Rennes.
Match preview
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After navigating six fixtures in February without a win to their name in all competitions, Reims finally managed to end their barren run with a hard-fought 2-1 triumph over Nantes last Wednesday.
With Boulaye Dia still struggling to replicate his early season form, defenders Yunis Abdelhamid and Ghislain Konan took it upon themselves to make the net ripple after Moses Simon's opener, with captain Abdelhamid heading home in the 89th minute as Reims left it late to secure maximum points at the Stade de la Beaujoire.
With their main man Dia now at risk of going 10 games without a goal in Ligue 1, David Guion's men have seen their form tail off slightly, but last week's confidence-boosting win over Nantes saw them extend their unbeaten run to four matches following three consecutive stalemates with Lens, Saint-Etienne and Montpellier in February.
Reims have firmly silenced any faint whispers of relegation with 10 games left to play in the 2020-21 campaign, and even though the 12th-placed Rouges et Blancs are not quite out of the woods yet as they sit nine points clear of the bottom three, Guion's youthful charges should not suffer a calamitous collapse at this stage of the season.
A 4-3 defeat to Valenciennes in the Coupe de France has been the only blot on the landscape for Reims on home soil since the turn of the year, as Friday's hosts have gone their last eight league games unbeaten at the Stade Auguste-Delaune - drawing the last three - and having conceded a mere four goals in that run, Lyon's bright attacking trident cannot travel north expecting to walk it into the back of the net.
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In an ever-changing battle for Ligue 1 supremacy, Lyon have experienced two blips against Montpellier and Marseille in the past month, but they managed to get their title charge back on track with a narrow 1-0 victory over managerless Rennes last time out in the league.
Houssem Aouar came off the bench to propel Rudi Garcia's side to victory, although there was controversy over Memphis Depay's involvement in a potential foul before he set up the Frenchman, but the goal was allowed to stand and Les Gones managed to keep pace with Lille and Paris Saint-Germain at the top of the rankings.
Garcia's men sit one point behind the reigning champions and three adrift of leaders Lille - who boast a marginally better goal difference of +32 compared to Lyon's +31 - so Les Gones' reward for victory by two goals or more on Friday night would be top spot in the Ligue 1 table, for 48 hours at least.
Furthermore, with table-toppers Lille facing off against fourth-placed Monaco at the weekend - a game which could end up proving pivotal in the race for glory - Lyon cannot afford to take anything less than maximum points home from the Stade Auguste-Delaune if they are to have any chance of ending gameweek 29 at the summit, although PSG will of course be expected to overcome Nantes on Sunday night.
A much-changed Lyon side produced a five-star performance to sweep aside Sochaux in the Coupe de France on March 6 and they head into this game on a 12-game unbeaten run away from home, while the visitors have managed to find the back of the net in 13 successive matches on rival territory.
Lyon eased to a 3-0 victory over Reims when the sides met at the Groupama Stadium earlier in the campaign, although they have not beaten Les Rouges et Blancs away from home since the 2014-15 campaign - losing two and drawing one on their opponents' turf since then.
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Team News
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Reims will welcome teenage protege Nathanael Mbuku back from suspension for this tie, but midfielder Moreto Cassama will serve a ban of his own for an accumulation of bookings.
Marshall Munetsi is therefore set for a swift recall to the engine room for Guion's side, while Arber Zeneli was one of three half-time substitutions made by Guion against Nantes and could find his spot on the left under threat from the returning Dia.
Xavier Chavalerin was forced off last time out due to a cut on his knee, but Guion expects him to be fine for this encounter after he was stitched up, meaning that Reims have an empty medical room at this moment in time.
Lyon are also blessed with an unoccupied treatment room, and the visitors will welcome a player of their own back from suspension in Lucas Paqueta, who played 90 minutes in the cup and should reprise his role on Friday too.
Teenage protege Rayan Cherki bagged a brace against Sochaux but is expected to drop out for the returning Karl Toko Ekambi here, while Depay and Thiago Mendes are also in line to replace Islam Slimani and Bruno Guimaraes.
Garcia handed opportunities to several fringe defenders in the Coupe de France, but the quartet of Anthony Lopes, Jason Denayer, Marcelo and Leo Dubois will all come back on Friday, while Tino Kadewere has successfully shaken off a muscular problem.
Reims possible starting lineup:
Rajkovic; Foket, Faes, Abdelhamid, Konan; Munetsi; Cafaro, Chavalerin, Berisha, Mbuku; Dia
Lyon possible starting lineup:
Lopes; Dubois, Denayer, Marcelo, Cornet; Mendes, Aouar, Paqueta; Kadewere, Depay, Toko Ekambi
We say: Reims 0-2 Lyon
Sochaux managed to strike twice against Lyon's defence in the cup - albeit a heavily altered one - so Dia in particular will be desperate to return to scoring ways against a team of Les Gones' calibre. The hosts appear to be heading in the right direction, but Garcia's men will not want to pass up an opportunity to rise to the top of the rankings and should end their hoodoo on Reims' turf with a convincing win on Friday.
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 60.98%. A draw had a probability of 22.5% and a win for Reims had a probability of 16.47%.
The most likely scoreline for a Lyon win was 0-1 with a probability of 13.03%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (11.82%) and 1-2 (9.68%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.67%), while for a Reims win it was 1-0 (5.88%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with a 10.7% likelihood.
