Ligue 1 Preview: Paris Saint-Germain - Lorient

Posted Friday, November 01, 2013 by YAHOO Sport

Paris Saint-Germain will look to get back to winning ways when it hosts Lorient on Friday.

Laurent Blanc's outfit scrambled to a 2-2 draw against 10-man Saint-Etienne on Sunday, halting a run of four straight victories in Ligue 1.

It could have been worse for PSG, which trailed 2-0 at one stage, but a red card for Fabien Lemoine gave it an opening. Edinson Cavani reduced the deficit before Blaise Matuidi leveled proceedings in the third minute of injury time, extending PSG's unbeaten league run to 22 matches.

Despite the small blip, PSG remains on top of the league, with 25 points from its 11 Ligue 1 fixtures enough to see it ahead of newly promoted Monaco on goal difference.

Blanc has been boosted by the return to training of fullback Christophe Jallet (calf) and attacker Javier Pastore (thigh). Friday's fixture may come too soon though for the duo, while captain and center back Thiago Silva is also ruled out.

Silva suffered a hamstring injury against Monaco and, although he has returned to training, Blanc said they must be careful with the 29-year-old.

"Physically he (Thiago) has done a great job. We're on time (with his recovery)," he said. "But we cannot afford a relapse, either for himself, for the club or the Brazilian team. It is good but we have to be careful."

Lorient have made a poor start to its season and sits 17th having taken just 10 points from 11 league fixtures. It heads into the match on the back of a 2-0 defeat at Nantes in the Coupe de la Ligue, but posted a 2-1 win over fellow strugglers Sochaux in its last league fixture.

That win ended an 0-5-1 stretch, while Lorient's recent record against PSG has not been great.

Christian Gourcuff's men have failed to beat PSG in their last three meetings, but their last victory did come in Paris, as Julien Quercia's goal gave them a 1-0 win in August 2011. However, the striker is unavailable this time for the visitors with an ankle injury.