Fallen giants of French football Lille will be aiming to escape the danger zone when they take on star-studded Paris Saint-Germain, who have problems of their own at the moment.

The Saints trail Ligue 1 leaders Nice six points, meaning that a victory at Grand Stade Lille Metropole is somewhat of an imperative.

While some other sides like Monaco, Nice, Toulouse and Guingamp are showing their best performances in years, Lille have been on a downward spiral of late.

Les Dogues currently occupy 16th position in the overall standings, but the good news is they have finally left the bottom three.

Lille did well to record two wins in their last three league fixtures, beating Nancy and Bastia at home, and a third straight triumph on home soil would be more than welcome.

The lengthy injury list is making life difficult for coach Frederic Antonetti and his associates, but the last two wins have seriously improved the dressing room atmosphere.

The problem is that Lille have gone ten games without beating Paris Saint-Germain (D3 L7), but this is as good time as any to end the dismal run.

Frederic Antonetii has moved to confirm that Marko Basa, Junior Tallo, Rony Lopes, Ryan Mendes, Mounir Obbadi, Eric Bautheac and Nicolas De Preville are all out injured.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-3): Enyeama – Corchia, Civelli, Soumaoro, Beria – Mavuba, Amadou, Sankhare – Bissouma, Eder, Sliti.

After several easy Ligue 1 title wins, it looks as though Paris Saint-Germain will have to work hard if they want to defend the trophy this season.

The Saints have had a pretty disappointing start to the season by their standards, suffering four slip-ups in first ten fixtures and they now sit six points behind surprise leaders Nice.

PSG managed to show some improvement in recent weeks, recording four successive triumphs in all competitions, but their old rivals Marseille prevented the run from continuing.

Despite not mustering a single shot on goal, OM held the Saints to a goalless draw, placing extra pressure on Unai Emery and his men ahead of the trip to Nord-Pas-de-Calais.

Javier Pastore has resumed training after recovering from a calf injury, but the clash against Lille is likely to come too soon for the Argentine.

The good news is that there are no other selection worries for Unai Emery, who is expected to field his strongest side at Grand Stade Lille Metropole.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-3): Areola – Aurier, Marquinhos, Thiago Silva, Kurzawa – Rabiot, Verratti, Matuidi – Lucas Moura, Cavani, Di Maria.