After two months of competition, Karl Toko Ekambi seems to have rediscovered his cutting edge in the Lyon attack and to have nailed down a starting place in Peter Bosz's preferred XI.

With Moussa Dembélé, Islam Slimani and Tino Kadewere all injured, the Cameroonian international has a good chance to start at centre-forward against the Danish club at the Groupama Stadium on Thursday, returning to the key-player status he enjoyed under Bosz's predecessor Rudi Garcia.

Toko Ekambi, who came up at Paris FC, has hit the posts or fired wide numerous times since the summer of 2020, but seems to be regaining his confidence at last.

Difficult start to the year

He is approaching his best level after a difficult year in 2021 that saw him confronted by the sudden death of his father, to whom he was very close, in January. Toko Ekambi, who hails from the suburbs of Paris, showed great mental strength in the second half of last season.

But while he was prolific before the break (nine goals and four assists), he was unable to reproduce the same performance in the return phase of the championship (five goals including two in the last round and one assist), after being affected by Covid-19, again in January.

The striker, who played for FC Sochaux-Montbéliard and Angers SCO earlier in his career, is now trying to move on from this bad patch. He opened the scoring with a magnificent goal against Glasgow Rangers (0-2) on Europa League Matchday 1 and then bagged the equaliser for ten-man OL in their 1-1 Ligue 1 Uber Eats draw with FC Lorient - his first two goals of the season. 'KTE' has also provided two assists in so far in the Ligue 1 Uber Eats campaign, against Stade Brestois 29 and Paris Saint-Germain.

Bosz: 'An intelligent player'

The 29-year-old does not give up and always shows a high morale and is making his way, regardless of the coach in charge.

"He is the prototype of the modern striker," said ex-OL boss Rudi Garcia a year ago, while current coach boss is also full of praise for the Cameroon international.

"You can see right away that he's a very good player, an intelligent player," said the Dutchman. "I like to work with intelligent players because you don't have to talk much. And when you say something, he understands and he puts it on the pitch."

'I feel good'

That was this summer, after a brace against German side Wolfsburg in a friendly match won 4-1 by OL on 17 July. After that, Toko Ekambi even wore the captain's armband in a friendly against former club Villarreal (2-2) five days later.

"I'm on a good run, I feel good," he told OLTV after the match against FC Lorient, hoping to confirm his current good form on Thursday against Brondby and then in the derby against AS Saint-Etienne on Sunday.