Bordeaux v PSG preview: Can PSG keep up the pressure on Lille in title race? – originally posted on Sportslens.com
Wednesday night sees perennial Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain take on out-of-sorts Bordeaux in need of all three points to preserve their title hopes.
A staggering 24-point gap separates the sides in the Ligue 1 table ahead of the kick-off and there is currently a massive gulf in quality between the pair.
The mid-table hosts are unlikely to secure European football for next season, especially given how they have performed lately.
Moreover, Les Girondins have rarely been able to go toe-to-toe with the reigning French champions over the past decade, hence the odds stacked against them.
Meanwhile, sitting two points adrift of league-toppers Lille, PSG cannot afford to drop the points at the venue where they last lost in March 2015.
The second-placed visitors are odds-on favourites to ruffle Bordeaux’s feathers, having avoided defeat in each of their last 12 clashes in all competitions (W8, D4). You can watch them live online through these sites.
Bordeaux Preview
A 2-1 away defeat at Lyon on Matchday 22 knocked Bordeaux down from a three-match winning run in Ligue 1.
Les Girondins have since lost four of their five league fixtures (D1), drawing a blank on three occasions.
No side sitting 15th or better have netted fewer goals than Jean-Louis Gasset’s men (28) this Ligue 1 campaign, with only 46.43% of those goals arriving at home.
Particularly toothless in attack after the half-time break, they have bagged the third-lowest five second-half goals at home this term.
Bordeaux have failed to find the net in three of their last four top-flight meetings with PSG at the Matmut Atlantique.
Paris Saint-Germain Preview
PSG bounced back from a 2-0 away loss to Monaco with a 4-0 thrashing of Dijon last time out.
Away from home, Les Parisiens have won all but one of their last four Ligue 1 games (L1), keeping a clean sheet in each victory.
By extension, a clear majority (83.33%) of Paris’ top-flight triumphs this season have been ‘to nil’ (15/18), with as many featuring a winning margin of over 1.5 goals.
Mauricio Pochettino’s men have notched up the joint-highest 27 goals on the road this season despite scoring in both halves in less than half (46.15%) of their Ligue 1 trips so far.
Lapses of concentration after half-time have seen two-thirds of PSG’s away league goals conceded this term arrive in the second half of play (6/9).
Team News
Bordeaux
Out: Dilane Bakwa, Toma Basic, Otavio.
Doubts: N/A
Paris Saint-Germain
Out: Juan Bernat, Angel Di Maria, Alessandro Florenzi, Mauro Icardi, Kylian Mbappe, Neymar, Marco Verratti.
Doubts: N/A
Predicted Line-ups
Bordeaux (4-4-2): Costil; Sabaly, Baysse, Koscielny, Benito; Oudin, Basic, Adli, Kalu; Hwang, Ben Arfa
Paris Saint-Germain (4-2-3-1): Navas; Dagba, Marquinhos, Kimpembe, Kurzawa; Paredes, Gueye; Draxler, Rafinha, Sarabia; Kean