Brestvs.Strasbourg

Eric Roy's side were comfortably beaten 3-0 by Barcelona in the Champions League in midweek, suffering a first loss on the continent this season.

Match preview

While the result was not as they desired, Brest's trip to Montjuic will live forever in the minds of their supporters, and truly put into perspective how far they have risen.

Their miraculous start to the Champions League means that despite plummeting to 11th because of that defeat, three further losses to finish the campaign will still likely be enough to see them into the knockouts.

Attention will now turn back to domestic matters where the Pirates do need to arrest a recent run of poor form to ensure they remain out of relegation danger, currently sitting just three points above the bottom three.

They will finally be able to enjoy home comforts again, with this being their first game at the Francis Le-Ble since November 2 - a 1-0 defeat to Nice.

That means that after just six home games, they have already equalled their number of home defeats from last season - two in 17.

Losing at Barcelona means Roy's men have lost three in a row in all competitions for the first time in over a year, and they have also lost their last three in Ligue 1.

It has been almost four years since Brest lost four in a row in the league, and Strasbourg may not be the ideal opponents to face next, considering they are unbeaten in their last four visits here.

Even during their phenomenal campaign last season, Strasbourg still took a point here, but Brest made up for that result by thrashing the Alsacians 3-0 on the road in February.

The visitors themselves are not on a good run of form either, having lost their last three matches, despite taking the lead in the previous two.

Last weekend's 2-1 defeat at Nice was tough to take, but given that manager Liam Rosenior named the youngest Ligue 1 starting XI for 75 years goes some way to suggest why they may be slightly fragile at holding onto leads.

With four of the players having links to sister club Chelsea, only 25-year-old goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic was over the age of 22, while their four substitutes also only had an average age of 21.8.

While it appeared Strasbourg was set to make a much stronger start compared to last season, they have ended up equalling their exact record from 12 matches that they had in 2023-24 - three wins, four draws, five defeats.

The Alsace club ended up finishing 13th last season, 10 points clear of trouble, but there will be slight disappointment if they cannot improve on that this time around.

Brest Ligue 1 form:

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D

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Brest form (all competitions):

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Strasbourg Ligue 1 form:

D

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L

Team News

Pierre Lees-Melou suffered the heartbreak of sustaining a calf injury against Monaco which ruled him out of the trip to Barcelona in midweek, and he will also not feature now until after the winter break.

The midfielder joins long-term absentee Bradley Locko and Soumaila Coulibaly on the sidelines, with the latter recovering from a groin injury.

Despite frequent rotation for league and European games, Roy made just two changes to his side in Barcelona, so further rotation could be in store here.

Strasbourg left-back Caleb Wiley dislocated his shoulder in the defeat to Nice last weekend, so will now be missing until 2025, joining Alaa Bellaarouch and Thomas Delaine on the treatment table.

Emanuel Emegha and important midfielder Ismael Doukoure are also both out with sprained knees, with the latter still waiting on results of an MRI scan to see the extent of the issue.

One positive is that Habib Diarra will be available to Rosenior again in the engine room after he served a one-match suspension last week.

Brest possible starting lineup:

Bizot; Zogbe, Chardonnet, Ndiaye, Amavi; Magnetti, Martin, Faivre; Del Castillo, Mama Balde, Salah

Strasbourg possible starting lineup:

Petrovic; Doue, Sarr, Sylla, Senaya; Mwanga, Andrey Santos, Bakwa, Diego Moreira; Mara, Nanasi

We say: Brest 2-0 Strasbourg

Against only Paris Saint-Germain and Rennes do Brest have a longer current winless run at home than they do versus Strasbourg, but despite their slow start in the league, three of their four wins this season have come immediately after a Champions League matchday.

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