Aiming to make it five games unbeaten and narrow their gap to the top six in the Ligue 1 table, Brest will travel to the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard to take on Saint-Etienne on Sunday.
The visitors have climbed up to eighth spot in the French top flight with back-to-back wins, while their hosts sit four points adrift of automatic safety and three behind the relegation playoff place.
Match preview
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Saint-Etienne return to the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard on Sunday in need of a crucial boost to their Ligue 1 survival bid, having lost ground in recent weeks.
After winning promotion back to France’s top flight last time around, they have endured a tricky campaign thus far, currently sitting 17th having earned 23 points from their 28 games.
Les Verts have managed just six victories in those matches, including only one in their last 12 attempts since early January, as they ended a nine-match winless run with a 2-0 triumph away at Montpellier HSC in mid-March thanks to Lucas Stassin‘s brace with the match abandoned early due to home crowd troubles.
Eirik Horneland‘s side have failed to build on that result since, though, instead dropping immediately back into the automatic relegation zone following consecutive defeats, as they firstly hosted Paris Saint-Germain and suffered a 6-1 thrashing before falling short in a trip to Lens last weekend.
A Goduine Koyalipou goal made the only difference for the hosts in that game, and now sitting four points adrift of safety and three behind Reims in the relegation playoff spot with six games remaining, Saint-Etienne will be desperate to get back to winning ways and ignite a survival bid at the weekend.
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Their visitors, meanwhile, make the trip at the weekend in stronger form in search of a third straight victory to strengthen their bid at the other end of the division.
After a memorable third-placed Ligue 1 finish last season and subsequent Champions League football earlier this term, Brest looked all but confined to a mid-table finish in a tougher campaign this time around, as a three-match winless run across February and March left them 10th on 33 points from 24 matches.
Then with their focus fully on the domestic top flight, Les Pirates have bounced back in style in recent weeks to climb into the race for European spots, going unbeaten in their last four attempts having firstly beaten Angers 2-0 and drawn 0-0 with Reims in mid-March.
Eric Roy‘s side have since recorded back-to-back victories since last month’s international break, triumphing 4-2 away at Toulouse and beating then-second-placed Monaco 2-1 on home turf last Saturday, as Mahdi Camara restored their lead in the 94th minute after Abdallah Sima‘s opener was cancelled out.
Now sitting eighth and trailing third, fourth, fifth and sixth spots by seven, six, five and four points respectively with six games remaining, Brest will aim to continue their fine run of form on Sunday and give their hopes of a continental spot a further boost.
Team News
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Saint-Etienne head into the weekend without Pierre Cornud and Augustine Boakye due to injuries, while Pierre Ekwah and Florian Tardieu will be subject to late fitness tests.
If they are not deemed fit to feature from the outset, Aimen Moueffek and Louis Mouton should both come into the midfield alongside Benjamin Bouchouari.
Lucas Stassin, who leads the squad with nine goals this season, will continue to lead the attack, with Irvin Cardona and Zuriko Davitashvili hoping to keep their places on the wings despite competition from Ben Old, Ibrahima Wajdi and 16-year-old Djylian N’Guessan.
Brest could be unchanged from last week’s impressive win over Monaco, with Justin Bourgault, Soumaila Coulibaly, Romain Faivre, Bradley Locko, Jonas Martin and Ibrahim Salah remaining confined to the treatment room.
Ludovic Ajorque will continue to lead the line having netted 10 goals in 25 Ligue 1 appearances this term, while winger Abdallah Sima moved onto 10 in all competitions and five in the French top flight with the opener last time out.
Mahdi Camara, who has scored in back-to-back games, will continue to play a key role in the midfield, likely joining Pierre Lees-Melou and Hugo Magnetti, who returned from a suspension for the Monaco victory.
Saint-Etienne possible starting lineup:
Larsonneur; Macon, Nade, Bernauer, Petrot; Tardieu, Ekwah, Bouchouari; Cardona, Stassin, Davitashvili
Brest possible starting lineup:
Bizot; Lala, Chardonnet, Ndiaye, Haidara; Lees-Melou, Magnetti, Camara; Sima, Ajorque, Pereira Lage
We say: Saint-Etienne 0-2 Brest
Having rebuilt momentum in their top-six bid and shown their quality in recent weeks, we back Brest to make it three wins on the bounce against a Saint-Etienne side struggling for confidence following consecutive defeats since the break.
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