PSG vs Nantes: Ligue 1 Match Preview, Predicted Line-ups, and Fantasy XI

PSG vs Nantes: After asserting more dominance in the Ligue 1 title race with the recent win over Marseille, Paris Saint-Germain now need to ensure they avoid an unnecessary slip-up at home against Nantes on Saturday.

Match Details:

• Location: Paris, France
• Stadium: Parc des Princes
• Date: Saturday 4 March
• Kick-off Time: 20:00 GMT / 15:00 ET / 12:00 PT
• Referee: Jeremy Stinat
• VAR: Benoit Bastien

PSG vs Nantes: Match Preview:

The 2022/23 Ligue 1 season will resume on Saturday, with the reigning champions in action. The day will witness only two league games, with the proceedings ending with a meeting between PSG and Nantes at Parc des Princes.

Christophe Galtier has endured a rollercoaster ride in his debut season as the Paris Saint-Germain manager. Les Parisiens have lost five times in 36 games across all competitions thus far. That is an uncharacteristic tally for the Ligue 1 champions, even though they have a 12-point lead atop the table. Their defensive vulnerability has been their undoing, which was somehow not evident in the 3-0 win over Marseille in Le Classique.

On the other hand, Nantes might be destined for a midtable finish amid an inconsistent campaign. The Canaries are 13th in the standings, seven points clear of 17th-placed Ajaccio. They have won just six league games all season, with two of those victories coming in their last four outings. But Antoine Kombouare's men are on a run of back-to-back defeats in Ligue 1, although they reached the Coupe de France semi-finals earlier this week.

The reverse fixture saw PSG cruise to a 3-0 win over ten-man Nantes, with Kylian Mbappe scoring twice. The Hard Tackle takes a closer look at the encounter ahead of the latest meeting between the two sides.

Team News:

PSG:

Christophe Galtier has got a major selection headache for the rest of the season because Presnel Kimpembe is out with an Achilles rupture. That means the back three that Galtier likes to use is now in disarray.

He will only be able to stick with it if Danilo Pereira or Nordi Mukiele can impress in a role they are not perfectly suited to. Marco Verratti is suspended so he will likely need Danilo in midfield against Nantes. Neymar and Renato Sanches are out.

Nantes:

Nantes will be without centre-back Nicolas Pallois while Quentin Merlin and Charles Traore could also be out. That means 19-year-old Jaouen Hadjam could get another run out in defence.

In the recent Coupe de France match, trio Ludovic Blas, Mostafa Mohamed and Marcus Coco all returned to the bench after injury concerns and are contenders to start this one against PSG.

PSG vs Nantes: Head to Head:

Nantes' record against PSG is surprisingly not too bad in recent years. Their last win over the champions came in February 2022, and they also defeated beat in March 2021.

However, the last time the two sides met, PSG won 3-0. PSG are unbeaten in Ligue 1 at the Parc des Princes this season, with their three losses coming away from home. In fact, they have only dropped four points at home all season, drawing with Monaco and Reims.

Parisian's striker Kylian Mbappe is the Ligue 1 top scorer this season with 17 goals. Remarkably, he went past the 200-goal mark for the club last weekend despite only being in his sixth season at the club.

Predicted Line-ups:

PSG predicted lineup (3-5-2): Donnarumma; Mukiele, Marquinhos, Ramos; Zaire Emery, Vitinha, Pereira, Ruiz, Mendes; Messi, Mbappe.

Nantes predicted lineup (4-2-3-1): Lafont; Centonze, Castelletto, Girotto, Hadjam; Sissoko, Moutoussamy; Blas, Mollet, Ganago; Delort.

PSG vs NAN: Fantasy XI

Lafont; Centonze, Marquinhos, Ramos; Sissoko,Vitinha, Moutoussamy; Messi, Mbappe, Ganago; Delort.