Seko Fofana continues to impress for RC Lens, who are up to second in Ligue 1 Uber Eats having beaten Olympique de Marseille ahead of their meeting with Toulouse FC at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis on Friday.
RC Lens - Toulouse FC
- Kick-off: 19:00 GMT
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Lens have been in impressive form of late, winning three of their last four games to pull onto 27 points, just five behind league leaders and champions Paris Saint-Germain.
The lone blemish on that record was when Derby du Nord rivals LOSC ended le Sang et Or's 17-game undefeated run with a narrow 1-0 win in Round 10, but victories by the same margin over Olympique Lyonnais, Montpellier Hérault SC and most recently Marseille have Friday's hosts dreaming of Europe.
Fofana key
David Costa got the only goal of the game at OM's Orange Vélodrome last Saturday, but assistant manager Yannick Cahuzac singled out captain Fofana for special praise, once paying respect to his boss, Franck Haise.
Watch: Highlights of Lens' 1-0 win at Marseille
"All credit goes to Franck Haise," he said. " He's the one who makes the decisions and was on point about what was missing in the first half in terms of our pressing, especially in our fitst line. You could see immediately how much more difficult it was for Marseille in the second.
"Seko's our leader, on and off the field. When he's off his game, the team is, but he levelled up in the second half. He was part of our first line of pressing and brought all his quality and desire, and it reflected on the team."
Medina suspended
Fofana will be part of a largely full-strength Lens on Friday, but Haise's hand will be forced at the back with Facuno Medina suspended. Jonathan Gradit has been out for a month with a collarbone injury but should be back in a nick of time for the manager to stick with his favoured 3-4-2-1 formation.
Jimmy Cabot and Wuilker Farinez both have ruptured crusiate ligaments, meanwhile, and won't be available for some time yet.
Toulouse begin the day in 10th, eight places and 11 points worse off than their hosts, although last year's Ligue 2 BKT champions have turned a corner recently and are undefeated in four Ligue1 Uber Eats games, winning eight of the last 12 possible points.
Watch: Highlights of Toulouse's 2-2 draw with Strasbourg
They let a two-goal lead slip against RC Strasbourg Alsace last Sunday, ultimately settling for a 2-2 draw despite having 17 shots to their opponents' 11. Anthony Rouault and Brecht Dejaegere were on target in the suspension-enforced absence of Thijs Dallinga, and Dejaegere in particular has played himself into further contention.
Montanier: 'leader on and off the field'
"With Brecht, it's easy, he's an exemplary captain and teammate," explained Haise's opposite number Philippe Montanier. "I have three or four captains who are very important players regardless of whether they're playing or not. He's an easy player to coach because he's already a coach on the pitch, with tactical vision, intelligence, a lot of experience and he communicates well."
Dallinga should lead the line on Friday with Dejaegere behind him in midfield, while there will be one enforced change in defence with Rouault likely to be partnered by Moussa Diarra at centre-back with Rasmus Nicolaisen suspended.
English striker Rhys Healey remains a long-term injury absentee with a ruptured cruciate ligament of his own.
Possible teams
Lens: Samba; Gradit, Danso, Haïdara; Frankowski, Samed, Fofana, Machado; Sotoca, Costa; Openda
Toulouse: Dupé; Desler, Rouault, Diarra, Sylla; Dejaegere, Spierings, Van den Boomen; Aboukhlal, Dallinga, Chaïbi