Nîmes Olympique - LOSC Saturday at 21:00 CET (2000 GMT)

Lille had suffered just one league defeat all season, and none at home, before hosting Angers SCO in their first game of the new year on Wednesday. Against all the odds, Les Dogues duly slumped to a surprise 2-1 reverse at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy, failing to recover after Romain Thomas scored twice for the visitors inside the opening 10 minutes. A 10th goal of the season in all competitions for Burak Yilmaz gave Lille hope, but the comeback never materialised and Lille now lie third, three points behind Ligue 1 Uber Eats leaders Olympique Lyonnais.

“We were slow to get going. Maybe the fact that we were late in returning to training (after the Christmas break) contributed to our poor start to the match. I have rarely seen my team in such difficulty. We were second-best in every area. This defeat will have to serve as a reminder of what we need put into a game to get results,” said Galtier.

Having also been leapfrogged on goal difference by reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain, Lille now head south to face Nîmes at the Stade des Costières, where they will again be without both Luiz Araujo and Yusuf Yazici. Both players missed the Angers game after testing positive for Covid-19 following trips back to their home countries during the short holiday.

Highlights: Lille suffer shock defeat against Angers

Araujo had symptoms and tested positives after returning from Brazil, while Yazici’s positive test came when he was still in Turkey, forcing him to remain there, although he was asymptomatic. However, Renato Sanches will hope to feature this time after the midweek game ultimately came too soon for him to make his comeback from a spell on the sidelines.

“There is a desire to perform better and to stay where we are, up at the top of the table,” insisted Galtier. “We are not yet at the halfway stage. We lost three points (against Angers) and we will have to try to recover them on Saturday in Nîmes. We will need to be much more precise and more aggressive going forward.”

The perfect opponents?

Nîmes, it has to be said, look like the perfect opponents for a team up towards the top of the table. They might be nicknamed the Crocodiles, but there is not much bite about the southern side just now and surely little reason to fear a team who lost 5-0 away at RC Strasbourg Alsace in midweek.

They have taken just one point from their last seven games and have won just once - away at Stade de Reims - in their last 12 matches. Indeed they have picked up only four of the last 36 possible points and they are bottom of the table, albeit only on goal difference behind FC Lorient. You want another striking statistic? They have lost their last six games at home.

“You come with certain intentions and then you let in five goals, and concede three penalties. If you want to stay up, you need to do more than that,” fumed coach Jérôme Arpinon after the midweek game.

Highlights: Nîmes spanked by Strasbourg

“Strasbourg just walked all over us. You can’t have just eight or nine players playing while the rest pretend to run,” added Arpinon, who was notably furious at attacking duo Haris Duljevic and Moussa Koné, both of whom were hooked at half-time.

“I didn’t see them press, and you can’t only play when you have the ball. They were looking at each other to see who was going to press, to know who needed to put the least effort in. It doesn’t feel like we are fighting to stay up. From now on we are going to put on guys who might not have the same technical ability but do have more courage, more heart and more love for the shirt.”

Probable teams

Nîmes: Reynet; Meling, Briançon, Deaux, Alakouch; Ahlinvi, Cubas, Ferhat; Ripart, Duljevic, Roux

Lille: Maignan; Djalo, Fonte, Botman, Reinildo; Xeka, André, Bamba, Ikoné; David, Yilmaz