Lyon travel to the Roazhon Park to take on Rennes on Sunday evening in the final match of the thirteenth round of Ligue 1 fixtures.
It’s a clash between two of the teams chasing Champions League qualification and they are currently locked together on nineteen points in fifth and sixth places in the table, four points behind the top three.
Both teams played in the Europa League on Thursday evening, with Lyon enjoying a comfortable 3-0 home win against Sparta Prague whereas Rennes only managed a 1-0 victory against Slovenian outfit NS Mura.
Rennes are unbeaten in six matches in Ligue 1, a run that includes an eye-catching 2-0 home win against Paris-Saint Germain, and they have won their last four home matches (all competitions) without conceding a goal.
Lyon have also been on decent form of late, aside from an unfortunate late collapse in their most recent away trip, that saw them snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in Nice.
The corresponding match last season was a 2-2 draw back in January, but Lyon did get the better of the Bretons in the return fixture at the Groupama Stadium in March with a 1-0 win.
The match referee will be Benoît Bastien. He has yet to take charge of a Lyon match this season, but Lyon enjoyed a 100% record when he was officiating during the last campaign, with three wins out of three including the 5-0 rout of Saint-Étienne and the 1-0 win in Paris. He has, however, overseen two Rennes victories over Lyon in previous seasons.
The main absentees for Lyon are strikers Moussa Dembélé, who is still injured and Tino Kadewere, who is suspended.
For Lyon, it’s probably more important not to lose this match than to win it, so I’d be happy with a draw, but a win would certainly deal a big blow to a direct rival for Champions League qualification and would give the club a huge boost going into the international break, so fingers crossed for the latter.