Saint-Etienne vs Toulouse preview - Casanova buoyed by strong start

Posted Saturday, October 04, 2014 by PA

Toulouse boss Alain Casanova is targeting an extension of his side's impressive start to the season at St Etienne on Sunday.

The visitors are unbeaten in three games, including a draw with champions Paris St Germain.

Casanova is relishing playing at St Etienne and hopes the hosts' Europa League campaign proves a distraction.

"We want to keep our run going and bring a good result home with us from the Geoffroy-Guichard," Casanova said on ligue1.com.

"It's a good place to play football. When you go there you know you need to be focused and rigorous.

"You need to defend well and then attack cleverly in order not to come unstuck when they counter.

"We need to be well set-up and react quickly when we lose the ball. It is always a pleasure to play in such stadiums."

Midfielder Mihai Roman is out with a broken leg sustained in a midweek friendly with Spanish third division club Union Deportiva Logrones, joining Etienne Didot, William Matheus (both knee) and Uros Spajic in missing out.

St Etienne lost 2-1 at Marseille last weekend - suffering only their third Ligue 1 loss in their last 18 matches - and drew 0-0 with Dnipro in the Europa League on Thursday night.

Goalkeeper Stephane Ruffier saved a first-half penalty in the game and has been called up by France for their forthcoming internationals.

Club captain Loic Perrin returned from an injury absence of over a month and is raring to go once again back on the domestic stage.

"Physically, I felt good," he said. "I made some mistakes but luckily they were not costly."

The stalemate was Les Verts' third game without a win, while they go into their final game before the international break having scored only four goals in six games since the last such interruption.

"The Toulouse match comes around quickly, it will be the seventh in three weeks," said Perrin. "Ahead of the two-week break, a win in the league would do us good."