Paris Saint-Germain returns to Ligue 1 action with a meeting with Olympique Lyonnais on Sunday at the Parc des Princes. Luis Enrique’s men recorded a convincing 3-0 victory against Red Bull Salzburg in the UEFA Champions League in midweek, after Pierre Sage’s side beat Eintracht Frankfurt 3-2 in the UEFA Europa League.
Gonçalo Ramos, Nuno Mendes and Need Doue all played for Les Parisiens in Austria on Tuesday, but the French champions still remain outside of 24th place in the UCL league standings for now. The closest for Paris will be Manchester Town before VFB Stuttgart, so there will also be differences between now and the return of European football at the end of January.
Lyon narrowly lost to Besiktas at the end of October but are unbeaten in nine games in all competitions going into next. Les Gones are advancing their quest for the UEL against the last 16 and had Rayan Cherki, Malick Fofana and Ernest Nuamah to thank for the goals when they watched the German rivals at the Groupama Stadium on Thursday.
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How can they be monitored and the probabilities?
- Age: Sunday December 15 | Date: 2:45 pm Eastern Time
- Location: Parc des Princes – Paris, France
- Monitor: beIN Sports activities | Flow: Fubo (Isolation Attempt)
- Odd: PSG -250; Draw +400; Leon +550
This season so far
PSG’s home style is very different to their continental performances, with a 14-game unbeaten streak since the start of the Ligue 1 season. Luis Enrique has observed that his team has let things slide against the likes of Nantes and Auxerre in recent years, but the capital team is five points ahead of Olympique Marseille in second place. For now, Les Parisiens are on track to retain their French crown with Bradley Barcola leading their scoring charts with 10 goals and two assists, one shy of Jonathan David’s tally of eleven for Lille OSC. Lyon come into this one having defeated Great and Angers by three-goal margins recently in Ligue 1 with an unbeaten road run of 8. The last time OL suffered an away defeat was against Stade Rennais again in August and their defense have been key with only six goals conceded in their top nine Championnat games.
Crew information
PSG: Presnel Kimpembe is opposing a return action after Lucas Hernandez made his return in midweek and could start here. Senny Mayulu was left out after Ousmane Dembélé was suspended in the Champions League in midweek. Nuno Mendes took a knock against Salzburg so could make way for Hernandez’s return with Gonçalo Ramos looking to line up his target later returning from the surprise.
Possible PSG XI: Donnarumma; Hakimi, Marquinhos, Pacho, Hernandez; Ruiz, Vitinha, Neves; Dembélé, Barcola, Ramos.
Lion: Sage won’t be making too many changes from the starting XI that beat Frankfurt in midweek. He said Benrahma and Georges Mikautadze will have to provoke with changes in appearance if they hope to return to the training phase, which logically will not happen once the team is in its flow process.
Conceivable Lyon XI: Perri; Maitland-Niles, Niakhate, Caleta-Automotive, Tagliafico; Tolisso, Matic, Cherki; Fofana, Nuamah, Lacazette.
Prediction
This could be tight with a PSG capable of scoring goals but not always decent to accelerate their chances and face an OL team that is increasingly difficult to reach. A small victory through a goal or so sounds good, with 2-1 also a conceivable result. Choose: PSG 1, Lyon 0.
