Olympique Lyonnais coach Rudi Garcia has challenged his side to get back to winning ways at home when they host coach-less Rennes on Wednesday evening in Ligue 1 Uber Eats.
LYON - RENNES
(kick-off at 18:00 GMT)
OL were beaten 2-1 by Montpellier in their last home match and - following Sunday's 1-1 draw at Olympique de Marseille - head into Round 28 in third place in the table, a point behind champions Paris Saint-Germain and three points behind leaders LOSC.
Garcia: "They caused us problems in the first meeting this season"
Garcia said: "We want to win at home. We have just taken four points out of six away, which is pretty good, but we didn't win our last home game and that affects the assessment of things. Rennes are on a negative run and the proof of hat is that the coach has just left. But they have good players and they played in the Champions League this season. They caused us problems in the first meeting this season, even if we finished that game well."
OL battled back from 2-0 down to take a point in a 2-2 draw at Rennes in Round 19 but must fancy their chances of collecting a maximum haul against the Bretons, who have not won any of their last six league games and will be under interim coach Philippe Bizeul following Julien Stéphan's resignation.
Lyon, who have taken 27 points at home compared to 29 away, will be without Brazilian midfielder Lucas Paqueta, suspended following being sent off in the Olympico. Otherwise, Garcia has a full squad available.
Very much in the title race as they chase a first Ligue 1 Uber Eats crown since 2008, OL cannot afford to let their rivals get away from them, as Garcia well knows. He said: "Monaco have taken the most points recently and I don't think much separates Lyon and Lille this calendar year. As we were top of the table at the end of 2020, we are capable of being in front of everybody if we win our last 11 matches. We could have been in a better situation but I don't forget that we were at fault in certain situations. The race is still long. Winning on Wednesday is very important. We didn't take the maximum haul at Marseille and now we need to put a run together."
Bizeul: "We're going to change small things"
Formerly Stéphan's assistant, Bizeul worked at Olympique Lyonnais last season, helping out Gueïda Fofana with the reserves. It's the fourth interim coaching stint of Bizeul's career, following two at Le Havre and one at Tours.
Bizeul sees himself as carrying on the work Stéphan did in taking Rennes to the Coupe de France trophy in 2019 and a record third-placed finish last season. Bizeul commented: "We're going to change small things, there won't be radical changes as that would mean that the project was all wrong. I adhere totally to what Julien was demanding. For the players as well, it's a shock, and we need this shock to be beneficial."
Probable teams:
Lyon: Lopes; Dubois, Marcelo, Denayer, Cornet; Guimaraes, Thiago Mendes, Aouar; Kadewere, Depay (c), Toko Ekambi
Rennes: Gomis; Traoré, Da Silva (c), Aguerd, Maouassa; Bourigeaud, Nzonzi, Camavinga; Doku, Guirassy, Terrier