Stade de Gerland will see Carlo Ancelotti’s Paris Saint-Germain face out-of-form Olympique Lyonnais in a crunch game where a victory would take both sides closer to their respective Ligue 1 ambitions
Nine defeats in the Championnat
Lyon on the other hand, lost their last two Ligue 1 games. Furthermore, Les Gones have lost nine games this season. Since the 1997/1998 campaign, the Rhone giants have never lost that many games at this stage of the campaign which means that Garde needs
to quickly return his side back to winning ways.
Currently in sixth place in the standings, Lyon trail LOSC Lille by six points. Les Dogues occupy the last Champions League place and Lyon captain, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Cris-c9486 admits that making it to the top 3 by the end of the campaign could be difficult.
Cris pessimistic
“I’m scared that we won’t finish in the top three. There are four or five clubs competing for third place and it will be really hard. We’re competing on four fronts right now but that could be cut to one or two within a month. We can’t give up on anything
yet,” says the Brazilian.
Return to winning ways?
After failing to win two games in a row, Paris Saint-Germain would be looking to return back to winning ways as they take on an Olympique Lyonnais side that has won just once in its last six Ligue 1 games. the poor run of results means that Remi Garde’s
side could finish the season out of the top three for the first time in more than seven years.
Warm up for Coupe de http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/France-c2899
The game between the two sides will not be the only one this campaign. The two giants of French football lock horns once again when Lyon travel to Parc des Princes to play PSG in the quarter-finals of the Coupe de France next month.
However, both coaches, Remi Garde and Carlo Ancelotti would be giving priority to the task at hand.
Since succeeding Antoine Kombouare as coach of PSG, Ancelotti has never lost a game but he knows that Les Parisiens are very lucky to still be a point clear of Montpellier at the top of the Ligue 1 standings.
The cash-laden side needed a late goal courtesy http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Guillaume-Hoarau-c15332 to save their blushes against a Montpellier side that was dominant almost throughout that game.
Furthermore, Ancelotti is still bedding the 4-3-2-1 system which requires http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Javier-Pastore-c18082 to improve. The former Palermo man has returned from a thigh injury and could start against Les Gones at the Stade de Gerland.
Pastore came on as a sub against Montpellier and Ancelotti noticed that the Argentine’s arrival shook things up.
The last time PSG lost away from home this season was back in November in the Clasico against Marseille. Ancelotti’s men have taken 22 points from 11 away games while Nene, who is the club’s topscorer with 11 goals, has not scored away from home this season.
However, the former AS Monaco man is happy with the way Ancelotti has used him so far.
“It’s going really well for me. I play behind the striker and need to understand how the full-backs and defensive midfielders play. There’s space for me and I’m playing closer to goal, with more freedom,” Nene said.
Team News
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Olympique-Lyonnais-c40130
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Dejan-Lovren-c10779 also misses out due to an Achilles problem. Young midfielder, Clement Grenier is banned.
Paris Saint-Germain
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Christophe-Jallet-c9179 has a thigh injury and will not feature against Lyon. However, Siaka Tiene is ready for selection.
Prediction
Though Lyon have not failed to win in recent weeks, a big upset could be on the cards when they face PSG who would be feeling the pressure in the final furlong of the campaign.
Predicted final score: Lyon 2-1 PSG
Tags: