Nice vs PSG

April 17, 2015
By: Nemanja Lazarevic

Having put a dent into Lyon’s title hopes by defeating them at Stade Gerland, Nice will be looking to claim another major scalp when they host Paris Saint-Germain on Saturday afternoon. The Saints cannot afford to lose any sleep over the Champions League defeat to Barcelona as they need to win at Allianz Riviera in order to return to the Ligue 1 summit.

Still not safe

Former Lyon coach Claude Puel has established a good system since arriving at Nice and he again has a very talented group of players at his disposal. However, the obvious lack of experience proves a major issue at times and the team were in a very difficult situation just few weeks ago. Les Aiglons then recorded a very fortunate away win over title contenders Lyon before taking four points from next two matches to create a six-point advantage over bottom three. But, with another six matches left to play, Claude Puel’s charges cannot afford to relax just yet and no doubt they will be under pressure when facing Paris Saint-Germain. Nice have been far from impressive at home of late, losing to Monaco and Guingamp while sharing spoils with Nantes and Evian, and the four-match winless run looks unlikely to end against arguably the league’s strongest side. Important attacker Eric Bautheac is also going to be sorely missed on Saturday, so everything suggests les Aiglons won’t be able to match star-studded PSG at their Allianz Riviera.

Eric Bautheac misses out through suspension, while Didier Digard, Xavier Pentecote and Mahamane Traore are out injured. Souleymane Diawara has been jailed for an alleged fraud.

Costly mistakes against Barca

Paris Saint-Germain have played at a very high level throughout the season and they proved on numerous occasions they have what it takes to match some of Europe’s top sides. However, the Saints were very unfortunate to face Barcelona in midweek with a number of key men missing, and when Thiago Silva also picked up an injury in the opening exchanges, the Catalans had no problems killing off the game. But, while PSG look set to crash out in the CL quarter-finals for the third time in a row, they remain in the driving seat for yet another Ligue 1 trophy, although Lyon look set to push them all the way. The Saints made a giant step towards the title defence by beating title rivals Marseille at Stade Velodrome, but with Lyon winning on Friday, Laurent Blanc’s men need to see off Nice if they want to return to the top of the standings. And even though they will again be without quite a few first team regulars, PSG should have enough quality and experience to record a much needed win at Allianz Riviera.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Marco Verratti are both banned, while Thiago Silva looks set to miss out. Serge Aurier is back to the side, while Thiago Motta could return as well.

Verdict

Nice are not exactly a force to be reckoned with at home and the lack of experience could prove to be a problem when facing Paris Saint-Germain. The Saints are still missing some important players, but will also have a couple of those back and I fully expect them to make another important step towards the league title.

Top pick: Away win   1.62 (5/8) @ Sportingbet

Alternative pick 1: PSG/PSG   2.45 (29/20) @ Ladbrokes

Alternative pick 2: Both teams to score   2.10 (11/10) @ Betfred

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