Can Nantes topple undefeated Nice?

FC Nantes – OGC Nice Saturday at 21:00 CET (2000 GMT)

>> LIVE SCORING, STATS AND COMMENTARY

Nice  are enjoying a remarkable start to the season and continued their outstanding run with a 1-0 win at home to Toulouse FC last weekend, a result secured thanks to a solitary goal by Terem Moffi. That win left Les Aiglons in second place, just one point behind leaders Paris Saint-Germain. With the capital club not in action until Sunday, Francesco Farioli’s side can go to bed as taple-toppers with a victory at the Stade de la Beaujoire.

The Côte d’Azur club have not lost any of their 13 Ligue 1 outings this season and have won eight of their last 10 matches. They have conceded a paltry four goals and have kept an incredible eight consecutive clean sheets. Goalkeeper Marcin Bułka has gone well over 700 minutes without conceding since Kylian Mbappé scored against him for PSG on September 15.

The statistics are astonishing, with Nice not having been behind at any point in a game this season. Apart from PSG, who have dominated the French game in recent years, the last side to go unbeaten through their first 13 matches of a campaign was Olympique Lyonnais in 2005-06, a season in which they went on to win the title. Yet one criticism levelled at Nice is that their football has not been attractive to watch, something that their 34-year-old Italian coach Farioli strongly disagrees with.

Watch: Nice beat Toulouse to maintain unbeaten record

“We want to improve every day, but at the end of our games the supporters are jumping up and down in the stands. If you play boring football, you don’t have an atmosphere like that in the stadium at the end of the game,” he told broadcaster Amazon Prime Video after beating Toulouse. “For me it is not boring to not concede a goal, it shows that you play with heart and desire. What the players are doing is incredible.”

Change of coach at Nantes

It has been a turbulent week for their opponents. On Wednesday, Nantes  decided to part company with coach Pierre Aristouy, who had only been in charge since May. He has been replaced by Gourvennec, who played for Les Canaris during a heady period for the club in the 1990s. The 51-year-old former EA Guingamp, Girondins de Bordeaux and LOSC Lille coach has signed a deal until the end of this season, with the option of an extra year.

“We have only won five matches since Pierre came in, and we have one of the worst defences in the division. Sometimes things just seem logical,” Nantes president Waldemar Kita told sports daily L’Équipe as he explained his decision to fire Aristouy. “We can’t reproach the man for anything but a club lives by its results. We are in a league of 18 clubs, we need to be wary.”

Watch: Nantes draw with 10-man Le Havre

Gourvennec takes over a team who are in mid-table but sat just four points above the bottom three after last weekend’s 0-0 draw at home to 10-man Le Havre, a result that followed a run of three straight defeats. “We want to stay up without trembling, and play good football,” Kita said of his objectives for the new man in charge.

Nantes have lost Cameroon international forward Ignatius Ganago for the rest of the season with a serious knee injury, while Sofiane Diop is set to be out for several weeks for Nice after he was hurt against Toulouse. Farioli said after that game he feared the injury was “quite serious”. France defender Jean-Clair Todibo missed last week’s match.

Possible teams

Nantes: Lafont; Pierre-Gabriel, Cömert, Castelletto, Duverne; Douglas Augusto, Chirivella (c); Adson, Sissoko, Simon; Mohamed

Nice: Bułka; Lotomba, Rosario (or Todibo), Dante (c), Bard; Sanson, Thuram, Claude-Maurice; Laborde, Moffi, Boga

>> PROFILE: The unbeatable Bułka