After a dip in form in late January/early February, second-placed Lens head to the Parc des Princes for Saturday's match just six points adrift of the league leaders on the back of a four-game winning streak and with a club record 63 points after 30 league games. But how have Franck Haise's side — seventh in their first two seasons since being promoted — turned from attractive also-rans to genuine title contenders?

STUNNING HOME FORM

Lens' push for a top-three finish has been built at home. The Stade Félix Bollaert-Délélis has seen 13 wins and just a single defeat in 15 top-flight matches, that's a better record than any other team in one of Europe's top five leagues. Nice, who got the three points in Round 21, and Lens' northern neighbours Lille in Round 26 are the only teams not to leave empty handed.

WATCH: Lens dispose of PSG in the duo's first meeting this season

"It's my favourite place to play. The fans and the atmosphere gives us that little bit extra," explained Kevin Danso. "It's a fortress. We feel good here. All teams who come here should be worried, because we're at 100%, and the fans are behind us." 

Lens could improve their away form though. They have only the fifth-best record 'on the road' in the division, having picked up 13 points fewer than Marseille, who travel best in Ligue 1 Uber Eats this season. That said, Lens have only lost twice in 15 trips - at Lille and Lyon - but have drawn eight of those games to let slip valuable points.

GOALS FROM EVERYWHERE

Though Lens have the best defensive record in the French top flight, it doesn't mean they're a defensive team. Haise's team have found the net 50 times in 30 matches so far: the lowest tally in the top five, but just four fewer than both Marseille in third and fifth-placed Lille. Sixth-placed Rennes have actually scored fewer times (48).

Loïs Openda's 15 league goals — the first Lens player to reach the tally since Roger Boli hit 20 in 1993/94 — is the highest total in the squad by some margin, but others have made significant if smaller contributions. Florian Sotoca has chipped in with six goals as well as a team-high eight assists, including five for Openda, and captain Seko Fofana has four goals. But wing-back Przemyslaw Frankowski has three strikes, while centre-back Facundo Medina's two goals this season have been matchwinners, earning his team six precious points. 

The ability of almost any of the ten outfield players to create a goal threat is rubbing off on new arrival Adrien Thomasson, who teed up a goal against his former club Strasbourg in Round 30, his third assist in his last four league matches, and as many as he had tallied in his previous 36 Ligue 1 Uber Eats outings.

IRON-CLAD DEFENCE

The summer addition of goalkeeper Brice Samba to a back line that was used to playing together has made Lens incredibly difficult to break down. The former Nottingham Forest man, who was recently called up to the senior France squad for the first time, has made fewer than three saves on average per match this season: both PSG's Gianluigi Donnarumma and Marseille's Pau Lopez are both averaging 3+. 

That means the men in front of Samba are also doing their job effectively, notably the three centre backs Haise has employed: Danso, Facundo Medina and Jonathan Gradit. "The three are all peerless competitors, and know each other very very well," explained the Lens coach. "None of them spoke the same language at the start, but their understanding of football made things easier. The idea was that, in front of our goalkeeper, they are as one."

With just 22 goals conceded from the first 30 games, that has proven the case with Massadio Haïdara slotting in seamlessly alongside the ever-present Danso when Medina and Gradit have suffered injury this season. It has meant that when Lens have gotten their noses in front — and after the win over Strasbourg in Round 30, they have scored in the first half of games in a club record 10 successive matches — they are difficult to peg back. In fact, they have not lost after scoring the opening goal this season, winning on 16 of the 19 occasions they have done so.

BIG GAME PERFORMERS

With their victory over then-fifth-placed Rennes in Round 29, Lens again showed their ability to stand up and be counted in the big games. It was their fifth successive league triumph against a team figuring in the Ligue 1 Uber Eats top five before the start of the match day. They had won just six times in their previous 17 such encounters.

WATCH: Lens take down another top-five side at Rennes

"We knew when we came here that it would be a difficult match in that atmosphere," said Samba after keeping a clean sheet at Roazhon Park where Openda's first-half header earned the visitors the points. "It doesn't matter which stadium we're in, it doesn't matter who we're playing against, we take risks. That's the key to our success this season." 

They also keep a cool head. Only Lorient and Nice boast a better disciplinary record than Lens coming into Round 31 with Haise's men having been shown a joint-league-low single red card so far this term.

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