After winning both of their opening two Ligue One games, Lyon have seen their form take a different turn in the last few weeks as they have gone four games in all competitions without victory. The 1-1 draw at home to Zenit in the champions league was their third draw during that period, one that has seen them lose once.
On Sunday, they take on the best side in France-PSG and will be hoping they do not go a 5th game without victory.
In the Ligue, Sylvinho’s side have lost to Montpellier and drawn with both Bordeaux and Amiens hence falling from table toppers into 8th with just 8 points from a possible 15.
For the visit of PSG, Lyon will be without Youssouf Kone who joins Jason Denayer in the sick bay. Kone was injured in the Champions League 1-1 draw with Zenit on Tuesday.
For PSG, they are currently on a strong run and coming off a moral boosting 3-0 victory at home to Champions League record holders Real Madrid on Wednesday night.
The victory over Real is their 4th on the trot. Three of the four wins have come in the league, defeating Toulouse, Metz and Strasbourg. In all those four victories, Tomas Tuchel’s side have not conceded a single goal whilst scoring 10 of their own.
Star-player Neymar Jr made a majestic return from a toubled summer with the winner in the 1-0 win at home to Strasbourg and having missed the 3-0 win against Real Madrid, he should be fresh to take on a Lyon side that has conceded in each of their last four games.
Neymar is expected to be joined by Edinson Cavani who has recovered from Injury but Sunday’s game at Lyon comes too soon for Kylian Mbappe and Julian Draxler who are still out.
The reverse fixture saw Lyon stun PSG 2-1 as they came from a goal down to register victory. PSG come into the game having lost both of their last two visits at the Groupama Stadium.
Can Lyon make it three victories on the trot at home to PSG or will Neymar produce another astonishing performance as he consolidates his return?
The French Ligue one match-day 5 starts on Friday with struggling Strasbourg at home to in-form Nantes.
After securing a Europa League play-off spot last season, Strasbourg have started this (season) poorly. They were knocked out of Europe by Eintracht Frankfurt and are one of only three sides yet to register a victory in Ligue One.
In their first 5 league games, they have drawn twice and lost three including the 1-0 defeat at PSG last time out.
Against Nantes, Strasbourg should be concerned again as they lost 3-2 at home to Christian Gourcuff last season. Nantes are also in good form going into the fixture having won all of their last three games.
A 2-1 win at Amiens was followed up with 1-0 victories against both Montpellier and Reims. Nantes have subsequently climbed up the table into 3rd, level on points with second placed Rennes and two adrift of leaders PSG.
Adrien Lebeau and Anthony Caci are out for the visitors while Regis Coco, Rene Krhin and Lucien Zohi will be unavailable for Strasbourg.
The other interesting fixture to look out for in the Ligue One this weekend will be Marseille at home to inconsistent Montpellier on Saturday afternoon.
Marseille had a slow start to the season but have steadily picked up form, winning all of their last three fixtures. Last weekend, they came from two goals down to defeat Monaco 4-3 away from home.
The four goals Andre Villas-Boas’s side scored last Sunday means they have now found the back of the net 7 times in their last three matches and with striker Dario Benedetto looking ever so sharp up-front, Marseille must be smelling blood.
For Montpellier, they have so failed to gain momentum since the season started. They defeated Nice 2-1 last week, their second victory of the campaign. The other three games have seen them loss twice and drawn once.
Last seaon’s reverse fixture saw Marseille beat Montpellier 1-0 with the now-injured Florien Thauvin scoring the winner.
All Ligue One match-day 6 fixtures
Friday, 20-09-2019
-Strasbourg vs Nantes @9:45pm
Saturday, 21-09-2019
-Marseille vs Montpellier @6:30pm
-Reims vs Monaco @9pm
-Metz vs Amiens @9pm
-Bordeaux vs Brest @9pm
-Nimes vs Toulouse @9pm
-Nice vs Dijon @9pm
Sunday, 22-09-2019
-Rennes vs Lille @4pm
-Angers vs Saint Etienne @6pm
-Lyon vs PSG @10pm
