Montpellier vs Caen preview - Courbis expects exciting run-in

Posted Saturday, April 18, 2015 by PA

Montpellier coach Rolland Courbis believes his side will determine which clubs qualify for Europe from Ligue 1 this season.

A 1-0 defeat at lowly Toulouse in their previous game has left Montpellier eight points adrift of fourth-placed Marseille with just six games remaining, but with games against St Etienne, Paris St Germain and Bordeaux still to come.

"The game at Toulouse is not an easy match to analyse, especially given the fact that we've played three matches in the space of a week, two of which were away from home," Courbis said ahead of Sunday's clash with Caen.

"We earned a good draw against Monaco and then we lost to the league's 18th-placed side; it's tough to draw any conclusions from that.

"But when I see that we have 49 points with what we offer at times in some games and what we do not see in others, I am happy and proud.

"The end of the championship promises to be exciting. Our goal is to get the best ranking possible without forgetting our role as arbitrator in the race for Europe."

Courbis will be without midfielder Morgan Sanson for the rest of the season after the 20-year-old suffered a serious knee ligament injury against Toulouse.

"The accumulation of matches probably played a part in his injury and I regret it," said Courbis, whose side had played three games in the space of eight days.

Sanson could be out for six months and wrote on Twitter: "The verdict: a ruptured cruciate ligament... I'm disgusted and saddened but I will come back even stronger without worrying it will happen to me again."

Caen coach Patrice Garande is hoping that giving his players some time off will help them bounce back from a 3-0 home defeat to Monaco which has left them 13th in the table, but only three points above the relegation zone.

"Monaco are the best side I have seen here," Garande said. "There was too much of a gap for us. To match them, we needed to be more precise technically, but we weren't even close.

"We wanted to create a shock, but frankly, the 3-0 scoreline is deserved, and it could have been even worse. We need to keep our freshness, and not panic. My players need to recover, which is why I'm giving them three days off."