PSG will aim to build on the crucial win over Marseille when they welcome Nantes to Parc des Princes on Saturday.
The 2022/23 Ligue 1 season will resume on Saturday, with the reigning champions in action. The day will witness only two league games, with the proceedings ending with a meeting between PSG and Nantes at Parc des Princes.
Christophe Galtier has endured a rollercoaster ride in his debut season as the Paris Saint-Germain manager. Les Parisiens have lost five times in 36 games across all competitions thus far. That is an uncharacteristic tally for the Ligue 1 champions, even though they have a 12-point lead atop the table. Their defensive vulnerability has been their undoing, which was somehow not evident in the 3-0 win over Marseille in Le Classique.
On the other hand, Nantes might be destined for a midtable finish amid an inconsistent campaign. The Canaries are 13th in the standings, seven points clear of 17th-placed Ajaccio. They have won just six league games all season, with two of those victories coming in their last four outings. But Antoine Kombouare’s men are on a run of back-to-back defeats in Ligue 1, although they reached the Coupe de France semi-finals earlier this week.
The reverse fixture saw PSG cruise to a 3-0 win over ten-man Nantes, with Kylian Mbappe scoring twice. The Hard Tackle takes a closer look at the encounter ahead of the latest meeting between the two sides.
Team News & Tactics
Paris Saint-Germain
⚽️ Christophe Galtier’s press conference before Paris Saint-Germain – FC Nantes 🔴🔵https://t.co/jj3eeZIttj
— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_English) March 3, 2023
Christophe Galtier has new roster issues hampering his preparations ahead of his side’s latest fixture. Against Nantes on Saturday, the PSG manager will be bereft of the services of four first-team players.
Presnel Kimpembe and Marco Verratti are the latest absentees for Paris Saint-Germain. While Kimpembe will miss the rest of the season due to an Achilles rupture, Verratti will serve a one-game suspension due to an accumulation of bookings.
In addition, Renato Sanches (hamstring) and Neymar (ankle) are also on the sidelines. And the latter is fighting a race against time to be available for the game against Bayern Munich. Meanwhile, Achraf Hakimi will be available amid a recent controversy surrounding him.
The Moroccan international has received support from PSG following allegations of rape from a 23-year-old woman. And Hakimi should start for Les Parisiens against Nantes this weekend. Meanwhile, the hosts should continue in the recent 3-5-2 formation.
Gianluigi Donnarumma picks himself between the sticks, with Nordi Mukiele likely replacing Kimpembe in the backline. Mukiele should join Marquinhos and Sergio Ramos in the central defensive unit.
Hakimi will reprise his preferred right wing-back role, with Nuno Mendes taking his spot on the left. Meanwhile, Danilo Pereira might come in for the suspended Verratti, joining Fabian Ruiz and Vitinha in the middle of the park.
Ruiz will often charge forward to provide creative support to the first-choice attackers. And finally, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe will continue as the two “strikers”. The duo will have free roles in the final third and look to express themselves in their own ways.
Probable Lineup (3-5-2): Donnarumma; Mukiele, Marquinhos, Ramos; Hakimi, Vitinha, Pereira, Ruiz, Mendes; Messi, Mbappe
Nantes
Like his counterpart in the Paris Saint-Germain dugout, Antoine Kombouare has new injury concerns to deal with ahead of the trip to Parc des Princes. The Nantes manager will be without four first-team players on Saturday.
Quentin Merlin (groin) remains on the sidelines and will not return for a few more games. In addition, Andy Delort, Sebastien Corchia and Charles Traore will be unavailable against PSG. But Nicolas Pallois has resumed training and is closing in on returning to action.
Meanwhile, Ludovic Blas, Mostafa Mohamed and Marcus Coco were fit enough to make the matchday squad in the Coupe de France win over Lens earlier this week. And the trio should be in contention to feature against PSG on Saturday.
📺 Coach : "Le point santé ? 4 absents : Quentin, Charles, Andy et Sébastien. Nicolas est avec nous pour l'entraînement aujourd'hui" #psgfcn
— FC Nantes (@FCNantes) March 3, 2023
Blas should be fit enough to return to the starting eleven, taking his spot on the right flank. The 25-year-old should join Florent Mollet and Ignatius Ganago in the final third. The trio will form the supporting cast for the central striker, with Mostafa Mohamed leading the line.
Samuel Moutoussamy and Moussa Sissoko should form the double pivot in the middle of the park. The duo will primarily look to keep things tight in the midfield, keeping their Paris Saint-Germain counterparts quiet.
Meanwhile, Jaouen Hadjam should start in place of the injured Merlin. The 19-year-old will join Fabien Centonze in the full-back pairing. Finally, Jean-Charles Castelleto and Andrei Girotto should be the two centre-backs, with Alban Lafont taking his usual spot between the sticks.
Probable Lineup (4-2-3-1): Lafont; Centonze, Castelletto, Girotto, Hadjam; Sissoko, Moutoussamy; Blas, Mollet, Ganago; Mohamed
Key Stats
- Nantes have a 46% loss rate against PSG in Ligue 1 (W28 D20 L41), their highest percentage against a single opponent in the competition. But the reigning champions have lost two of their last four Ligue 1 games against Nantes (W2), as many as in their previous 26 (W21 D3). However, they have scored in their last 23 games against the Canaries in the top flight (56 goals in total), their joint-longest top-flight scoring streak against a specific opponent (23 also vs Saint-Etienne).
- Nantes have lost three of their last five Ligue 1 games (W2) having lost only one of their previous ten (W3 D6). They have lost back-to-back games, last going on a longer losing run between August-September 2021 (3).
- PSG have only lost one of their last 75 home games against clubs in the second half of the table at the start of the Ligue 1 matchday (W63 D11). That was against Antoine Kombouaré’s Nantes in March 2021 (1-2).
- Currently on 200 goals (joint with Edinson Cavani), Kylian Mbappe can become the outright top scorer for PSG in all competitions in this game. He is still behind Cavani on the number of goals in Ligue 1 with PSG: 136 (in 163 games) for the Frenchman and 138 (in 200 games) for the Uruguayan.
- Ignatius Ganago has scored four goals in six Ligue 1 games against PSG, his favourite opponent in the top-flight (0.67 goals/game). Among the current Ligue 1 players with more than one goal against PSG, only Kevin Volland has a better ratio against them than the Nantes striker (1 goal/game).
Player to Watch
Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi scores 700 club goals in his incredible career — 28 goals with PSG & 672 with Barcelona ⭐️🇦🇷 #Messi
Messi has also two assists for Mbappé tonight…
…and Leo’s also gonna win “The Best” FIFA Award on Monday in Paris 🥇 pic.twitter.com/ylyQXbQrgh
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) February 26, 2023
Messi was on top of the world just two months ago, guiding Argentina to the 2022 FIFA World Cup. And he has eventually settled down at the club level again after the euphoria of the triumph on the international stage. He continues to break records and scored his 700th club goal in style against Marseille last weekend.
The Argentine wizard then won The Best FIFA Men’s Player of the Year Award on Monday. All the while, his PSG future remains uncertain amid interest from Barcelona. But Messi has shown that he remains focused on delivering the goods on the pitch. And the veteran attacker will be eager to continue breaking records in the coming weeks. So expect more magic from Messi this weekend.
Prediction
PSG 3-1 Nantes
A couple of weeks ago, Nantes might have fancied the chances of getting the better of PSG. The Canaries had won two Ligue 1 games on the bounce, while the hosts were struggling for consistency. But Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe have been excellent in the last few games. And The duo will again be in fine touch against Nantes, likely delivering the three points on Saturday.
So while the visitors have picked up as many points away from home in five games since the resumption of Ligue 1 in December (8 – W2 D2 L1) as in their previous 14 (W1 D5 L8), they will not take anything back home from this outing. The Hard Tackle predicts a 3-1 win for Christophe Galtier and his charges.
