Preview: Reims vs. Nantes - prediction, team news, lineups

The visitors, meanwhile, come into this game fresh off the back of securing a place in the Europa League knockout round, finishing as runners-up in Group G.

Match preview

William Still remains in temporary charge of Reims after the dismissal of Oscar Garcia last month, and the French outfit are still unbeaten under Still's guidance.

A 0-0 stalemate away at Lorient was followed by an impressive 2-1 victory over Auxerre, courtesy of Folarin Balogun's seventh goal of the season and Junya Ito's late strike, after M'Baye Niang had levelled proceedings 12 minutes before the interval.

Reims failed to break the deadlock against Brest last time out, sharing the spoils as a result, however, that outcome means Les Rogues et Blancs are unbeaten in their last five league outings.

They currently sit 13th in Ligue 1, one point ahead of their opponents this weekend, and three points adrift of the relegation places. Reims were 3-1 winners in this fixture last season, so they will be aiming for a similar scoreline on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Nantes left it late to secure the three points against Olympiacos on Thursday evening, as the winning strikes from Mostafa Mohamed and Ludovic Blas both came in the final quarter of an hour.

Nevertheless, the 2-0 victory secured a place in the Europa League knockout round playoff for Antoine Kombouare's side, after they finished second in Group G behind Freiburg.

Domestically, Les Canaris are unbeaten in their last three games, beating Brest 4-1 courtesy of goals from Moses Simon, Ignatius Ganago, Mostafa Mohamed and Moussa Sissoko, before drawing 1-1 with Nice and Clermont.

The upturn in form has seen Nantes climb out of the bottom four, however, they are only two points clear of the relegation places, languishing in 15th place in the table.

As the only remaining Ligue 1 club yet to convert an opening goal into a victory, there is still plenty of work to do to produce a complete performance.

A victory here would see them leapfrog Sunday's opponents and potentially climb as high as 12th if other results were to go their way.

Reims Ligue 1 form:

L

D

D

D

W

D

Nantes Ligue 1 form:

D

L

L

W

D

D

Nantes form (all competitions):

L

W

D

W

D

W

Team News

Maxime Busi and Thomas Foket remain on the sidelines for the hosts due to muscle injuries, while Rafik Guitane will also be absent here.

Marshall Munetsi remains on the treatment table for Reims, but Andreaw Gravillon returned to the side against Brest after serving a ban, so he could retain his place in the starting XI here.

As for the visitors, Kader Bamba missed last week's draw with Clermont due to serving a suspension of his own, but he came off the bench to mark his return against Olympiacos.

Ludovic Blas will be hoping to convert back-to-back Europa League goalscoring appearances into his second goal of the Ligue 1 season, while Charles Traore's knee injury will keep him out of Sunday's clash.

Reims possible starting lineup:

Diouf; Flips, Gravillon, Abdelhamid, Locko; Lopy, Matusiwa; Ito, Doumbia, Zeneli; Balogun

Nantes possible starting lineup:

Lafont; Centonze, Pallois, Girotto, Merlin; Sissoko, Chirivella; Guessand, Mohamed, Simon; Ganago

We say: Reims 1-1 Nantes

There is only one point separating the sides coming into this game, so we are expecting a tightly-contested affair on Sunday.

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