Reims welcome Paris Saint-Germain to Stade Auguste Delaune on Saturday, seeking a shock result in round five's Ligue 1 tussle.
While the Parisians are favourites to continue their 100% start to the 2024-25 campaign, recent match-ups with this weekend's opponent have not completely gone their way.
Match preview
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Although Reims had a false start to the new Ligue 1 season, Luka Elsner's men have accrued seven points from three matches to rise to sixth in the early-season standings.
The 42-year-old joined the club from Le Havre in the summer after avoiding immediate relegation for the club he guided to the top division following a 14-year absence and has had a decent-to-good start with the Red and Whites.
A 2-0 home loss in round one has been followed by an entertaining 2-2 draw with Roberto De Zerbi's Marseille and a pair of 2-1 wins over Rennes and Nantes.
Undoubtedly pivotal to Reims' ongoing form is their goalscoring threat, underscored by scoring two each in the last three fixtures, although they are yet to keep a clean sheet heading into gameweek five.
Elsner's men have conceded the first goal in all four Ligue 1 matches this season, a habit that could be detrimental to taking points off PSG for the fourth time in the past five match-ups.
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While Luis Enrique got the better of this weekend's opponents in 2023-24, the Spaniard also dropped points against Reims in year one, the third time the defending top-flight champions have slipped in the last four meetings between the clubs.
The current run — one victory in four against Reims — has followed a spell of five consecutive PSG wins over Les Rouges et Blancs, where the capital club scored 15 times in all competitions without conceding.
Since then, Les Parisiens have been held to two draws on their turf and one in Reims; however, the only triumph in that period came at Saturday's venue in a Kylian Mbappe-inspired 3-0 success.
With the Frenchman now at Real Madrid, Enrique's team must find other match-winners to decide matches like Saturday's to see off any challenger in Ligue 1 and achieve their Champions League ambition.
The season has been perfect, with PSG notching maximum points after four games, scoring 16 times and letting in three before facing their sixth-placed opponents.
Nuno Mendes fortuitously continued the French side's 100% start with a late winning goal against Girona in Wednesday's Champions League action, and the capital club aim to notch another success to continue their unblemished campaign.
Team News
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Reims have had six goalscorers this season, with Sergio Akieme, Yaya Fofana, Junya Ito, Oumar Diakite, Marshall Munetsi and Keito Nakamura all finding the back of the net.
The hosts could be without the injured quartet of PSG loanee Gabriel Moscardo (groin), Akieme (jaw), Abdoul Kone (hamstring) and Mohammed Daramy (knee).
Marco Asensio went off in the opening half of the French giants' Champions League match with Girona with a suspected hamstring injury that could keep the Spaniard out this weekend, thus joining Presnel Kimpembe (Achilles), Lucas Hernandez (knee) and Goncalo Ramos (ankle) on the sidelines.
Gianluigi Donnarumma (thigh) was absent on Wednesday due to an injury sustained last weekend against Brest, and the goalkeeper is touch-and-go for Saturday.
Despite firing blanks in Europe, Bradley Barcola (four goals) and Ousmane Dembele (three) should play from the off out wide, possibly flanking Randal Kolo Muani up top.
Reims possible starting lineup:
Diouf; Buta, Kipre, Agbadou, Sangui; Munetsi, Edoa, Teuma; Ito, Diakite, Nakamura
Paris Saint-Germain possible starting lineup:
Safanov; Hakimi, Marquinhos, Pacho, Mendes; Zaire-Emery, Vitinha, Neves; Dembele, Kolo Muani, Barcola
We say: Reims 1-3 Paris Saint-Germain
PSG's victory over Girona on Wednesday was ultimately decided by a Paulo Gazzaniga mistake, but they dominated the match with numerous scoring chances.
We are backing the Parisians to rediscover their goalscoring touch for a comfortable win at Reims to secure maximum points for the fifth time in Ligue 1 and sixth in all competitions.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
