Rennes vs Dijon

Rennes is having a really bad period recently, losing their last three games in the league, which is their worst run since the start of the season. But yet this three games were against Bordeaux, PSG and Montpellier and maybe this is the three teams in best form in France right now. The team is currently on seventh position in the table, but with equal points with sixth Saint-Etienne and just a point behind fifth Bordeaux. In this final round Saint-Etienne and Bordeaux are playing against each other, so the chance for Rennes to pass behind the two teams after the last matches is not small. The possibilities for this are two. The two teams make a draw in their match and Rennes wins against Dijon, or Saint-Etienne beats Bordeaux and Rennes wins against Dijon with a goal more than Saint-Etienne. Before the defeat against Montpellier the team was on a run of two straight wins at “Stade de la Route”, both with the same result (3:1 against Nice and Ajaccio). For today coach Antonetti won’t be able to use Erding (23/5), Doumbia (25/2), Mangane (13/2) and Apam (12/0).

 

The situation in the bottom in France before the last round can be displayed in one word – madness. But except the already relegated Auxerre, it looks like the chances for Dijon the escape relegation are more than minor. Currently there are three teams with 39 points, four with 38 and Dijon, who are in 19th position with 36 and two of this eight team have to relegate. To survive, Dijon needs to win at “Stade de la Route” and in the same time at least two of the teams with 38 points to lose their games, because Dijon have a really bad goal difference. The team have no win in their last eight games in the league (0-3-5) and I don’t think that they have what it takes to get a victory against a motivated team like Rennes. Also the bad news for the team is that their main goal scorer Jovial (30/9) is again out. Kakuta (14/4), Diabate (14/0), Marcq (17/0), Matsui (3/0) and Malouda (5/0) are also unavailable.

 

In the first game between the two teams Rennes just trashed Dijon with 5:1 as visitors, when five different players scored the goals for the visitors, while the only one for the home side was scored exactly from Jovial, who won’t play tonight.