Saint-Etienne and Brest will both be out to break the all-important 40-point mark in Ligue 1 when they lock horns at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard on Saturday lunchtime.
The hosts suffered a cruel 3-2 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain last time out, while Brest's encounter with European hopefuls Lens ended in a 1-1 stalemate.
Match preview
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It took 77 minutes for Saint-Etienne's encounter with reigning champions PSG to explode into life at the Parc des Princes last Sunday, as Denis Bouanga drew first blood before Kylian Mbappe netted an eight-minute brace to seemingly confirm PSG's victory on their own turf.
The veteran Romain Hamouma netted two minutes into injury time to level the scores at 2-2, but the fit-again Mauro Icardi came off the bench to head home a late winner with virtually the last kick of the game to send PSG into delirium and leave Saint-Etienne heartbroken.
Claude Puel's side saw their two-game winning streak in the league come to an abrupt end in the capital, but a spate of recent successes sees them occupy 13th spot in the rankings with five games left to play - eight clear of the bottom three - so victory this weekend should all but guarantee survival for the inconsistent Verts.
Saint-Etienne simply swept aside the out-of-sorts Bordeaux 4-1 in their most recent home fixture, but they had only won one of their previous 13 home encounters before that and boast just one clean sheet from their last nine at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard.
Such poor defensive statistics do not bode well for Saint-Etienne as they bid to steer clear of danger at this late stage, but thankfully for Puel's side, Brest appear to have lost their golden touch in the final third at the worst possible time for Olivier Dall'Oglio.
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As impressive as Brest's point was against European hopefuls Lens, the result was overshadowed by a total of three red cards - two for Sang et Or and one for Dall'Oglio's men - as Jean Lucas and Simon Banza were ejected from the field late on after Steven Fortes had already been sent from an early bath.
Prior to the late flurry of sendings off, Yannick Cahuzac's own goal had given Brest the lead before Gael Kakuta levelled from the spot - an all-too familiar sight for Lens' opponents this season - as that stalemate stretched Les Pirates' winless run to five matches in the top flight.
Dall'Oglio's previously free-scoring charges had initially been tipped for an unlikely European spot, but with just three wins from their last 18 in Ligue 1, Brest have slipped down to 15th spot and are just six clear of the bottom three, so a relegation scrap is not beyond the realm of possibility.
While Brest are also enduring a miserable 10-game winless run away from home, their tally of 45 goals scored is by far the highest in the bottom half of the table, so Dall'Oglio will hope that his side have the necessary firepower to stave off relegation to Ligue 2.
However, Les Pirates have only managed to find the back of the net three times in their last seven away games, although a first-half flurry of goals saw them storm to a 4-1 win over Saint-Etienne at home back in November.
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Team News
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Bouanga would have been in contention to start this match after his opener against PSG, but the winger is suspended for this fixture owing to an accumulation of bookings, so Arnaud Nordin is the most likely candidate to replace Kevin Monnet-Paquet out wide.
Anthony Modeste has now been ruled out for the remainder of the season with a groin tear - joining Yvann Macon on the long-term injury list - and it is likely still too soon for Ryad Boudebouz to return to the fold.
Mathieu Debuchy has also emerged as a doubt after suffering a suspected sprained ankle in the PSG defeat, while Puel could be forced to field Boubacar Fall in goal if Etienne Green joins fellow shot-stoppers Jessy Moulin and Stefan Bajic on the sidelines with a thigh problem sustained in the same game.
One attack-minded change from Puel could see Adil Aouchiche replace Zaydou Youssouf in the middle.
Brest midfielder Lucas will serve a one-match suspension following his sending off against Lens, but Haris Belkebla returns from a ban of his own to fill the void left in midfield.
Steve Mounie will also sit this game out for an accumulation of bookings, but Gaetan Charbonnier has shaken off a back problem and should partner Irvin Cardona up top.
Romain Philippoteaux only lasted three minutes of the draw with Lens before coming off with a thigh issue, and he joins Christophe Herelle and Paul Lasne in the infirmary, but creative hub Romain Faivre is fine again after an adductor issue.
Saint-Etienne possible starting lineup:
Green; Moueffek, Cisse, Moukoudi, Trauco; Neyou; Hamouma, Camara, Aouchiche, Nordin; Khazri
Brest possible starting lineup:
Larsonneur; Pierre-Gabriel, Chardonnet, Brassier, Perraud; Honorat, Belkebla, Magnetti, Faivre; Cardona, Charbonnier
We say: Saint-Etienne 3-1 Brest
A spate of injuries and suspensions has seriously hampered Brest's aspirations of ending their torrid winless run away from home this weekend, and their attacking forces have lost their golden touch in recent weeks.
Saint-Etienne were highly unfortunate not to come away from their clash with PSG with any points to show for it, but we expect them to prolong Dall'Oglio's misery with a dominant win on their own turf.
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 Saint-Etienne win with a probability of 44.31%. A win for Brest had a probability of 28.74% and a draw had a probability of 26.9%.
The most likely scoreline for a Saint-Etienne win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.04%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.81%) and 2-0 (8.33%). The likeliest Brest win was 0-1 (9.22%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.74%). The actual scoreline of 1-2 was predicted with a 6.7% likelihood.
