Paris Saint-Germain - Angers SCO

- Kick-off at 21:00 CET (19:00 GMT)

PSG have until close of play on Monday to add more new faces to their squad after a summer in which a host of stars departed and only right-back Alessandro Florenzi, on loan from AS Roma, has arrived. The capital club did also make Mauro Icardi’s loan move from Inter into a permanent deal, however.

“I don’t know if we are going to sign any more players. If we stay like this, then we will keep pushing the players we have, keep trying to give them confidence, never accept not winning. But given the situation, I am worried that we will pay the price in October and into November and December,” Tuchel told reporters at his eve-of-game press conference.

The reigning champions have seen Thiago Silva, Edinson Cavani, Thomas Meunier, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and Tanguy Kouassi leave after their contracts expired. Adil Aouchiche chose to sign for AS Saint-Etienne rather than sign professional terms at the Parc des Princes, while young defender Loïc Mbe Soh was sold to Nottingham Forest, leaving Tuchel’s squad almost down to the bare bones.

“That is the reality. For the moment we don’t have the same quality or the same players,” Tuchel lamented. “We will do the job the best we possibly can. We won’t accept excuses. But the reality is that we have lost players and if we stay like this we can’t make the same demands of the players.”

Watch: Champagne for Icardi against Reims

Last season’s beaten Champions League finalists found out on Thursday that they will face Manchester United, RB Leipzig and Istanbul Basaksehir in the group stage of this season’s competition, which begins on October 20.

In the meantime, Paris are looking for their third straight Ligue 1 Uber Eats win as they take on Angers, having recovered from a shaky start which saw them lose their opening two games, weakened by injuries, suspensions and a cluster of coronavirus cases.

Neymar fit to start

Di María begins a four-game ban handed down for spitting in the defeat by Olympique de Marseille last month, but Neymar Jr. has shaken off a knock suffered in last weekend’s 2-0 win at Stade de Reims. Idrissa Gana Gueye is fit too. “They are ready and feeling good,” Tuchel said.

Despite losing midfield lynchpin Baptiste Santamaria to Freiburg, Angers have won three of their five outings so far this season, including a thrilling 3-2 home win over Stade Brestois 29 last time out. However, Stéphane Moulin’s side have lost on all five previous visits to the capital since winning promotion back to the top flight in 2015.

Watch: Angers beat Brest in five-goal thriller

“We know that the percentage chance of us getting anything from them is very small, but we are not going there as victims,” Moulin said in an interview with sports daily L’Equipe. “We have nine points and that should allow us to play with more freedom.”

Angers last week signed former FC Lorient winger Jimmy Cabot on a three-year deal and also recently recruited forward Loïs Diony from AS Saint-Etienne. However, Moulin is eager to reduce a lengthy injury list.

“If I can get the injured players back then the squad I have should get us through the season. But we need to stop having so many players out. Mathias Pereira Lage, Farid El-Melali, Rachid Alioui, Souleyman Doumbia, Romain Thomas and Vincent Manceau are all potential starters. That’s a lot to deal with."

Probable teams

Paris SG: Navas; Florenzi, Marquinhos, Kimpembe, Bakker; Verratti, Paredes, Herrera; Mbappé, Icardi, Neymar

Angers: Bernardoni; Bamba, Traoré (c), Pavlovic, Ebosse, Aït-Nouri; Thioub, Capelle, Coulibaly, Fulgini; Bahoken