Lyon-Lorient preview: No Memphis for OL | OneFootball

Olympique Lyonnais head into Saturday’s game against FC Lorient with their Champions League hopes revived but with captain Memphis Depay absent due to suspension.

Olympique Lyonnais - FC Lorient Saturday at 1700 CET (1500 GMT)

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Failure to beat AS Monaco last weekend would have effectively ended Lyon’s prospects of a top-three finish but substitute Rayan Cherki’s late strike to secure a 3-2 win at the end of a dramatic evening at the Stade Louis II brought OL right back into contention. Now, with three games left, they are back to within a single point of third-placed Monaco in the fight for the last qualifying berth for Europe’s elite club competition next season.

If Rudi Garcia’s side can get the better of Lorient at the Groupama Stadium, they will move provisionally above Monaco into third before the principality side go to Stade de Reims on Sunday.

Watch: Lyon edge Monaco in five-goal thriller

However, they will have to get over the absence of captain Depay, who was the catalyst of their initial second-half comeback against Monaco as he scored their equaliser and then delivered the free-kick for Marcelo to head and in and make it 2-1. Wissam Ben Yedder’s penalty then restored parity before Cherki struck.

Depay, Lyon’s top scorer this season with 19 Ligue 1 Uber Eats goals, serves a one-game suspension. According to Opta, since the start of last season Lyon have won just 30 percent of their games without the Dutchman in their starting line-up. How they cope without their leading scorer will be key.

Defensive headache

However, Garcia also has a major headache in defence, with both Marcelo and Mattia De Sciglio serving one-game bans after being red-carded for their part in a brawl at the end of the Monaco victory. Jason Denayer came off in the first half against Monaco having missed the previous two matches injured, while Algerian international Djamel Benlamri has also been on the sidelines. One option for Garcia is to drop Thiago Mendes from midfield back into central defence, although Maxence Caqueret is also suspended after his red card in Monaco.

“If we look at the players in the squad who are not defenders by trade, one who comes to mind who could stand in is Thiago Mendes. He has never played there but he has the characteristics to do so,” Garcia, who will take charge of his 400th Ligue 1 game as a coach, told reporters on Thursday.

“He is an intelligent player, technically excellent, and he is good at bringing the ball out. He is athletic and good in the air. I hope I am not obliged to play him there though and that we have other defenders available. I am not ruling out playing three at the back against Lorient, and we have the youngsters too.”

Watch: Lorient overcome Angers

Lyon have been let down by their home form in 2021, losing four league games at the Groupama Stadium and being knocked out of the Coupe de France in the quarter-finals by Monaco. Meanwhile they have not lost away from home since September, but they cannot afford a slip-up against Lorient.

“Everything is still possible,” insisted Zimbabwe star Tino Kadewere. “We are going to do everything to win our last three matches. It will be difficult now to win the league but for me the objective is the Champions League.”

Lorient in relegation fight

The objective for Lorient meanwhile is to avoid an immediate return to Ligue 2. The Brittany club are 17th, four points above FC Nantes in the relegation play-off position and six clear of Nîmes Olympique in 19th.

Given their superior goal difference to that of Nîmes, a Lorient victory here would effectively end any chance of them being automatically relegated. However, in contrast with Lyon, Christophe Pelissier’s side have a dreadful record on the road.

They have won just once away from home all season, and that 3-1 success at Stade de Reims came in mid-October. In more than six months since then, Les Merlus have managed six draws and seven defeats in 13 games on their travels.

“We know we’ve been having difficulty away from home, especially defensively. We are conceding too many goals,” said Pelissier, whose team have improved considerably since a poor first half of the season. “I said it in January: when you have 12 points at the winter break, you know you are going to have to fight until the last minute of the last game. We are ready to do that. Maybe some of the other teams will be less so.”

Lorient will be without the suspended Julien Laporte, meaning Andreaw Gravillon could return to the line-up. Midfield duo Quentin Boisgard and Jonathan Delaplace are both out injured.

Probable teams

Lyon: Lopes - Dubois (c), Diomandé, Denayer (or Ozkacar), Cornet - T.Mendes, Paqueta, Guimaraes - Toko-Ekambi, Kadewere, Cherki.

Lorient: Dreyer - Hergault, Chalobah, Gravillon, Morel, Le Goff - Abergel (c), Lemoine - Le Fée, Moffi, Wissa.

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