Commando operation for Nîmes Olympique (20th, 15 pts) which moves this afternoon (3pm) to Dijon (19th, 15 pts) for the 25th day of Ligue 1. Winning would allow the Crocs to regain hope in the quest for maintenance . Despite 13th remaining days, a defeat against the penultimate would seriously hamper the Gardois’ chances of survival.
“Win or die”, the title is deliberately a little daring but sums up the situation for Nîmes Olympique. By emerging victorious from this duel between the last two in the standings, the Nîmes would regain confidence, gain a place and come closer to that of play-off. By losing, it is not the guaranteed descent of course, but how to keep morale and hope to beat the other teams after a loss to the 19th? Even if there will remain 13 days plus the late match against Lorient to save himself.
A strong stake that the players obviously have in mind before going to the Gaston-Gérard stadium: “It would be very beneficial to win there. We are not going there to draw a draw, you have to be ambitious”, assures goalkeeper Baptiste Reynet. The last bulwark of the worst defense in Ligue 1 with 51 goals conceded which goes to the lawn of the worst attack (17 goals scored). It promises ! Failing not to score, the Burgundians concede few goals for a relegation: 36 goals taken is only one more than Monaco, fourth in the standings.
Dijon: No victory this season at home
“It cannot be otherwise. We rotated the workforce on Wednesday to have some freshness on Sunday”, says Pascal Plancque about a positive outcome for this fight. Especially since this season it is especially away from home that Nîmes has brought down its opponents with 11 points out of 15 gleaned away from Costières. It is precisely in the enclosure of Nîmes that the DFCO obtained its last success in the championship, on December 23 (1-3). One of the only two matches won this season with the one in Nice (1-3) by the men of Stéphane Jobard then David Linarès.
The penultimate elite is the only team not to have won at home this season with six draws and six losses in 12 receptions. A statistic inevitably mentioned in a pre-match press conference, “should not say it, it will bring us bad luck!”, reacts in the tone of humor the Nîmes guard, rather superstitious. Since its success in the Gard, Dijon remains on three draws and four consecutive defeats. Opposing players who for their part aim to win to practically bury a direct competitor for the race to maintain.
To win, the NO will have to control the pressure and no longer start the matches with fear in the stomach as to face in Monaco (3-4) with a catastrophic start to the game. “Once released the players were able to compete but only for 75 minutes. Now you have to be consistent throughout the game”, summarizes Pascal Plancque who should certainly renew the same starting XI narrowly beaten by the ASM. None of the holders of last Sunday participated in the elimination in the 32nd final of the Coupe de France against Nice (1-3) on Wednesday.
A game Martinez should have played if he hadn’t felt inflammation in his knee. Preserved for this meeting, the defender must resume collective sessions on Monday. Landre has already resumed training but is too short to apply. Ueda is in the group but for his coach “he is not ready to play every three days”, therefore Miguel and Briançon will form the central hinge with Alakouch and Meling on the sides. In this 4-3-3 system, Ripart should again be associated with Deaux and Cubas, the sentry, in the middle of the field.
Landre, Martinez and Roux absent
In front, we should therefore find the Ferhat-Koné-Benrahou trio with the Algerian on the left wing author of an assist as well as a goal in the last match and the former Bordeaux player on the right side. On the bench, Guessoum was preferred to Paquiez. Sarr is still stopped because of calf pain, he should resume athletic preparation within ten days. Among the forwards, Roux is forfeited because his knee is a little swollen. Aribi is back in the group instead of Majouga. Nazih remains second guard since Dias’ hand is not yet fully consolidated after his fracture.
Just before flying to the Côte d’Or, the Crocos received, this Saturday morning, the visit of about fifty supporters who came to crack some smoke and sing a few songs to show their support. “We greeted them and we felt the scam they wanted to pass on to us”, congratulates Reynet whose confrontation is necessarily special for the one who has worn 235 times (2011-2013 / 2014-2018) the Costa Rican jersey. He obviously wants to play a bad trick on his former club to hope to survive in Ligue 1 with Nîmes.
Corentin Corger
The selected group: Reynet, Nazih – Burner, Alakouch, Miguel, Briançon, Ueda, Meling, Guessoum – Fomba, Ahlinvi, Deaux, Cubas – Ripart, Benrahou, Ferhat, Koné, Duljevic, Eliasson, Aribi.
The probable eleven: Reynet – Alakouch, Briançon, Miguel, Meling – Deaux, Cubas, Ripart – Benrahou, Koné, Ferhat.
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