Coupe de France round of 32

Stade Bollaert-Delelis, Lens

RC Lens - LOSC

- Kick-off at 21:00 CET (20:00 GMT)

LOSC may have seen their squad heavily hit by COVID in recent days - Ligue 1 Uber Eats top scorer is just one of seven players struck down with the virus - and other attacking absences, but coach Jocelyn Gourvennec assured fans that his side will be out to claim northern bragging rights in the Coupe de France round of 32 on Tuesday night.

Gourvennec: 'Plenty of excellent players'

"We will field a competitive side," said the LOSC boss, who also has Burak Yilmaz (suspended) and Timothy Weah (recovery) out of action for this crunch cup clash. "But our bench will be very young, that's no secret. It's great to have youngsters in the squad, and there will be a bunch of U20s on the teamsheet. Even though we have absentees, we will be determined challengers. We have plenty of excellent players in our squad."

Les Dogues will have their Ligue 1 Uber Eats loss in Lens back in September as supplementary motivation, but Les Sang-et-Or have their own stakes to play for -as well as their own absentees - as coach Franck Haise pointed out.

Haise: 'The world of good'

"When you have three, four or five players missing, as was the case for us at the end of last year, that's three, four or five fewer solutions you have," said the Lens boss, whose side have been leaking goals since a 4-0 Ligue 1 Uber Eats win over Troyes on 5 November, but who has influential forwards Gaël Kakuta and Wesley Saïd back for Tuesday night's clash. "The six-day break has done us the world of good."

Probable teams

RC Lens: Fariñez; Wooh, Danso, Medina; Clauss, Doucouré, Fofana (c), Frankowski; Sotoca, Kalimuendo

LOSC: Grbic; Djalo, Fonte (c), Botman, Reinildo; Gomes, Onana, Niasse, Bamba; Sanches - Yazici

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