Paris Saint-Germain vs Nimes 24/02/19

24 February 2019

Paris Saint-Germain take on Nimes at Parc des Princes going after their fourth consecutive Ligue 1 triumph.

The reigning holders have virtually secured back-to-back league titles because Lille closing the 15-point gap looks like a sci-fi. After two successive 1-0 wins, the Parisians have trashed Montpellier 5-1 in midweek, extending their impressive winning L1 home run to 13 games. Not only they remain the only team to wrap up a maximum of 39 points at home, but Thomas Tuchel’s men have scored more goals than any other French side at home (47), bagging 2+ match goals ten times in the process. What’s more, PSG’s tally of five goals conceded at home is a comfortable league’s best, with the Paris giants keeping eight clean sheets at home so far. Paris Saint-Germain tend to press their rivals from the start having taken the lead in 12 of 13 L1 home outings this term, with nine of those openings arriving inside the first 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, two straight league wins have propelled Nimes to 10th place, as they now trail the Europa League promotion territory by four points. The visitors come into this meeting off the back of a 2-0 home win over Dijon, which was only the second time in 2019 they’ve managed to preserve a clean slate. The returnees’ fragile defense will hardly be able to cope with a devastating PSG attack, considering they’ve struggled to keep a clean sheet in 10 of 12 L1 road trips this campaign. Furthermore, Les Crocodiles have already allowed 22 goals away from home, which is the third joint-worst defensive record in the French top tier. Although they’ve pulled off three wins on their last five L1 road trips (W3, L2) potential worry for Bernard Blaquart could be that his players have struggled to hit the net in all five of their away losses this term.