Bordeaux will head to Roazhon Park this weekend to clash with Rennes as their Ligue 1 campaign continues on Sunday.
Neither side have won a game in 2022, as Les Rennais were shut out 1-0 last Saturday by Lens, while Les Girondins lost by the same score versus Olympique de Marseille.
Match preview
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After winning four in a row heading into their final two matches of 2021, Stade Rennais have hit a speed bump, losing three consecutive league fixtures.
On Saturday, Lens employed an effective 3-4-2-1 formation, which Bruno Genesio's men struggled to contend with, firing only five shots in the entire game, none of which hit the target.
While they remain near the top of the table, sitting in fourth, those defeats have put some distance between themselves and a possible berth in the Champions League next season as they trail both Marseille and Nice by five points.
Their explosive attack has been a lot quieter than we are used to seeing, with only two goals in their last three Ligue 1 affairs after finding the back of the net 14 times in their previous five matches.
They return home for a league game for the first time since December 12 in a place that has caused them issues recently, losing their last two domestic encounters played at Roazhon Park after winning five in a row and outscoring their opponents by a margin of 15-1 over that stretch.
Stade Rennais have had their way with teams near the bottom half of the table, winning their last three matches against them (Lyon, Lorient and Saint-Etienne), scoring 11 goals while conceding only one.
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Bordeaux continue to hover dangerously close to that relegation line, with the second half of the league campaign beginning even worse than the first, losing their only two matches played so far this year and failing to find the back of the net each time.
While it is rare to see them fail to score, having only been shut out of three of their league fixtures so far this season, Vladimir Petkovic has to be concerned with how poor his side have been defensively, conceding a league-high 44 goals, three more than the next highest team (Metz).
After 20 games, Les Girondins have only collected 17 points, the second-lowest tally in their history in the top flight (counting three points for a win), currently sitting one point above Metz for relegation.
Desperate times call for desperate measures, and the team took what could be perceived as an act of desperation by stripping Laurent Koscielny of the captain's armband in a move that did not sit well with the former French international.
They have only won three matches in this campaign but have never lost three in a row this season, a stat that they will try to use to their advantage, having dropped their last two contests.
Les Marines et Blanc have found themselves trailing at half time 10 times in the 2021-22 campaign, winning only one of those games.
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Team News
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Rennes are missing four players on international duty at the Africa Cup of Nations as Alfred Gomis, Kamaldeen Sulemana, Nayef Aguerd and Hamari Traore are representing Senegal, Ghana, Morocco and Mali, respectively, while Romain Salin has a calf issue and Jeremy Gelin will miss some time because of an ACL injury.
Gaetan Laborde leads them in scoring with nine goals which puts him in a tie for third in the league alongside Kylian Mbappe, Amine Gouiri, Mohamed Bayo and his teammate Martin Terrier.
There were three new faces in their starting 11 when they took to the field against Lens last weekend as Warmed Omari, Martin Terrier and Benjamin Bourigeaud replaced Flavien Tait, Jeremy Doku and Serhou Guirassy, who all got the start in their Coupe de France defeat to Nancy.
In their previous meeting this season versus Stade Rennais, Bordeaux got an equaliser two minutes from the end from their defender Mexer, his first of the campaign.
Amadou Traore is suffering from a thigh injury, Jimmy Briand is still recovering from some soreness in his foot, Paul Baysse is not expected back until the middle of the month with an ACL sprain, while Jean Onana is with the Cameroon national team at the Africa Cup of Nations and Gideon Mensah is with Ghana.
Bordeaux had a much different look to their starting 11 this past weekend from the side who started in their cup defeat against Brest, with Timothee Pembele, Javairo Dilrosun, Alberth Elis and Hwang Ui-jo being the only players to keep their place in the lineup last Friday.
Rennes possible starting lineup:
Alemdar; Truffert, Bade, Omari, Assignon; Tait, Santamaria, Doku; Terrier, Laborde, Guirassy
Bordeaux possible starting lineup:
Costil; Pembele, Rode Gregersen, Mexer, Kwateng; Adli, Lacoux, Fransergio, Oudin; Elis, Hwang
We say: Rennes 4-0 Bordeaux
It has been a frustrating time for Rennes, who like to attack in numbers and press, so we expect to see them let out those frustrations against a helpless Bordeaux side, who allow far too much time and space in their own penalty area.
Not only have Les Girondins struggled tremendously this season, but the banishment of their now former captain Koscielny is an unwelcomed distraction for a side trying to remain in Ligue 1.
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 Rennes win with a probability of 70.15%. A draw had a probability of 18.9% and a win for Bordeaux had a probability of 10.92%.
The most likely scoreline for a Rennes win was 2-0 with a probability of 13.72%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (13.17%) and 3-0 (9.53%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (8.92%), while for a Bordeaux win it was 0-1 (4.28%). The actual scoreline of 6-0 was predicted with a 0.7% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that Rennes would win this match.
