Marco Verratti has warned his Paris Saint-Germain teammates to guard against complacency when they face Ligue 1 Uber Eats' bottom side Dijon in Saturday's early evening kick-off (4pm GMT).
Seventeen places and a whopping 39 points separate the duo ahead of the game at the Stade Gaston Gérard where PSG will be expected to bounce back from last weekend's damaging 2-0 home defeat to Monaco, which saw Mauricio Pochettino's men slip down to third place, four points behind leaders Lille.
After taking a blow to a foot in training on Thursday, Verratti will not be able to take to the pitch, but has told his teammates that they need to be aware that shocks can happen as it did last season when they were beaten 2-1 in Dijon.
"It's possible, because we have everything to lose and they have everything to win. We need to go out on the pitch without thinking about what's going on elsewhere or about the league table. We need to play with 100% of our weapons," said Verratti. "We can win, we are stronger, we have top players but we need to show it on the pitch. If we think that it's going to be easy, we will be in trouble. We need to put in an intense performance for the full 90 minutes and win this match because it's a cup final for us."
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Verratti is joined on the sidelines by the suspended Leandro Paredes as well as Mauro Icardi, Alessandro Florenzi, Neymar, Angel Di Maria and Juan Bernat as a difficult 2020/21 campaign continues for the reigning French champions, who are seeking to defend their crown and pull level with Saint-Etienne as the club with the most Ligue 1 Uber Eats titles.
"I think that all seasons are complicated. But this season really puts into perspective our other seasons, it shows us how incredible our achievements have been in previous years," Verratti told PSG's official website.
"We won lots of matches. At times, we won the league by 10 points. This year is more difficult generally, in sport, in everything. We are experiencing a strange year, where we have a lot of Covid-19 cases and injuries. I think the context is the same across all leagues. The final sprint of the season will be intense.
"We are still in the running for the title. We have 12 'cup finals' in the league, the Champions League and the Coupe de France. We will bring everything that we need to succeed. What's certain is that we are always giving 100% on the pitch. Sometimes that works, at other times it doesn't. With the team that we have, we must fight until the very end in order to take home the title."
Dijon are the only team in Europe's top five leagues yet to win at home this season. January arrival Aboubakar Kamara misses out after his red card in the defeat to Lens last time out, Dijon's fifth in a nine-game winless streak.
PSG loannee Eric Dina Ebimbé, Frédéric Sammaritano, Mama Baldé and Roger Assalé are all available again, however, as David Linares looks to his side to up their game against a prestigious opponent.
"We've got everything to win," said the Dijon boss. "It's a match which demands we up our tactical level in both terms of discipline and rigour so that we can defend collectively against this kind of opponent whose individuals can make the difference.
"We also have to up our demands on our attacking play. We have to be clinical in both penalty areas and, in comparison to recent games, concentrate more at set-pieces. We've paid dearly recently for lapses in concentration at set-pieces."
Probable teams
Dijon: Racioppi; Boey, S.Coulibaly, Ecuele-Manga (cap.), Panzo, Ngonda; Ndong, Lautoa, Celina; Ma.Baldé, Konaté (or Assalé)
PSG: Navas; Kehrer, Marquinhos (cap.), Kimpembe, Kurzawa; Draxler, Gueye, Herrera; Sarabia, Kean, Mbappé
