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Ligue 1 – Paris Saint-Germain vs. Metz: When Metz take on the Ligue 1 winners on Wednesday night, Paris Saint-Germain hopes to round out the year with a victory as they visit Parc des Princes for the last time in 2023.
Over the weekend, Luis Enrique’s team was held to a painful 1-1 draw by Lille, while its newly promoted guests lost 1-0 at home to Montpellier HSC.
Even though PSG scored twelve goals in their two games against Lille at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy in 2022, their prior offensive prowess on Les Dogues’ field meant little on Sunday, as the champions need a penalty kick from Kylian Mbappe to break the deadlock deep into the second half.
But as Luis Enrique brought on more players in an attempt to finish the match, a PSG substitute unintentionally assisted a fellow Lille replacement in salvaging a point after Marco Asensio’s careless pass from the back resulted in Jonathan David heading home the equaliser four minutes into added time.
Les Parisiens were relieved to see Monaco and Nice fail to take advantage of their missed opportunities to stay comfortably clear at the top.
Les Parisiens were possibly suffering from a minor European hangover from their Champions League last 16-clinching draw with Borussia Dortmund in midweek, where they were once again left to rue wastefulness in the final third.
After winning eight straight games before having to accept a share of the spoils in Lille, PSG’s record stands at 11 wins in the top flight.
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They lead Nice by five points at the top of the table, but after Wednesday’s match is over, they won’t play in Ligue 1 for nearly a month as they have commitments for the Coupe de France and the Trophee des Champions in the first few weeks of January.
With only one clean sheet from their last six games across all competitions, thanks to David’s last-gasp equaliser against Lille on the weekend, PSG will be hosting Metz.
However, the champions have won their last five Ligue 1 games at the Parc des Princes, and they have a massive 17 goals from those five games.
While the defending champions might score goals in the capital for enjoyment, Metz’s shortcomings in the closing third were exposed once more when Montpellier HSC visited Les Grenats on Sunday.
Montpellier HSC sentenced Les Grenats to their third straight scoreless loss since the beginning of the month.
At the 100-year-old Stade Saint-Symphorien, where Laszlo Boloni’s crop blasted 19 shots in vain, Metz lost to a deft header from first-time senior goalscorer Maxime Esteve. Prior to this, Metz had yielded to Lille and Brest’s superiority without breaking through their opponent’s defence.
The recently promoted team’s winter struggles have kept them from climbing out of the drop zone, but a remarkable winning run in November has given Boloni’s team some much-needed breathing room.
They are currently three points ahead of Lyon in the relegation playoff spot, and four points ahead of Lorient.
Typing inconsistency since making a comeback to the big time, the Mets have already lost four games in a succession this season.
They also failed to score in their first three of those games before winning 2-1 against Monaco, yet ten of their sixteen points have come away from home.
The Grenats supporters can travel to the capital with a sense of calm hope, but the head-to-head table is not encouraging, as PSG has defeated Wednesday’s opponents 13 times in a row.
The visitors haven’t triumphed in this fixture since the 2005–06 season ended.
Paris Saint-Germain Ligue 1 form:
W W W W W D
Paris Saint-Germain form (all competitions):
W D W W D D
Metz Ligue 1 form:
D W W L L L
Arnau Tenas’s brief spell in goal is about to come to an end as PSG’s top stopper Gianluigi Donnarumma is free for selection again after serving a two-match suspension for his justified red card against Le Havre on December 3.
Aside from Sergio Rico (head trauma) and Keylor Navas (back), Donnarumma’s colleagues guardians Sergio Mendes (hamstring), Presnel Kimpembe (Achilles), Fabian Ruiz (shoulder), Goncalo Ramos, and Carlos Soler (both sickness) were all out for the champions against Lille.
Despite the harsh celebration schedule, Enrique did not hesitate to rotate his starting lineup against Les Dogues. However, with Achraf Hakimi, Milan Skriniar, and Randal Kolo Muani injecting some youth into the XI, there should be a whole new set of changes.
Regarding the visitors, Boloni, who did not think twice to sacrifice a handful of players at halftime in the loss to Montpellier, should only be concerned about Oscar Estupinan (hamstring) and Aboubacar Lo (unspecified) sitting out due to injuries.
In fact, Boloni substituted Lamine Camara and Ablie Jallow for each other during halftime, albeit the move ultimately had little impact. Nevertheless, Kevin N’Doram will make an effort to replace one of the two.
Paris Saint-Germain possible starting lineup:
Donnarumma; Hakimi, Marquinhos, Skriniar, Hernandez; Zaire-Emery, Ugarte, Vitinha; Barcola, Kolo Muani, Mbappe
Metz possible starting lineup:
Oukidja; Colin, Traore, Herelle, Cande, Udol; Van Den Kerkhof, Jacques, N’Doram, Asoro; Elisor
Our Prediction for this Match 4-1 or 3-0 won by Paris Saint-Germain
