Montpellier welcome PSG to Stade de la Mosson-Mondial 98 in Saturday’s French Ligue 1 matchup. With the league already wrapped up by the visitors and on a high from reaching the UEFA Champions League final, Les Parisiens are expected to ease past their already relegated hosts.
Montpellier come into this game already relegated to Ligue 2 following a 1-0 defeat at Brest in their previous fixture. That result means Zoumana Camara’s men are winless in their last 13 league matches, suffering 12 defeats in that run and are now doomed to finish at the bottom of the table.
A leaky backline has been one of the problems for Montpellier, with a number of one-sided defeats among their results like the 5-1 thrashing at Marseille and the 4-0 home loss to Lyon. They have also struggled going forward, failing to score in 11 of their last 13 Ligue 1 matches.
PSG arrive in high spirits after their 2-1 midweek win over Arsenal sealed a 3-1 aggregate victory and a place in the UEFA Champions League final. With the league title already wrapped up and a Coupe de France final against Reims still to come, they remain firmly on course for the treble.
The Parisians are winless in their last three Ligue 1 matches and were beaten 2-1 at Strasbourg, although manager Luis Enrique has been rotating heavily with one eye on the Champions League. However, they are likely to be feeling the euphoria of their Champions League exploits and will be targeting a repeat of the 6-1 victory at Saint-Etienne, who are also battling relegation.
PSG have a 29-14 advantage from 14 previous matches against Montpellier. The Parisians often claim one-sided wins in this fixture, like the 6-0 home victory in the reverse fixture.
Nikola Maksimovic, Issiaga Sylla and Stefan Dzodic are unavailable for Montpellier due to several injuries. However, Junior Ndiaye, Rabby Nzingoula and Jordan Ferri are all expected to start.
PSG have a fully fit team to pick from, although some of their midweek starters might be given a rest. Bradley Barcola could be favoured to retain his place in the line-up alongside Joao Neves and Fabian Ruiz.
Montpellier: Lacomte, Tchato, Mouanga, Omeragic, Mincarelli, Saint-Luce, Coulibaly, Nzingoula, Ferri, Fayad, Ndiaye.
PSG: Safonov, Zaire-Emery, Beraldo, Pacho, Hernandez, Mayulu, Ruiz, Neves, Barcola, Ramos, Lee.
