Paris Saint-Germain host Lyon on Sunday night in Ligue 1’s marquee match of the weekend. Headlines have centred around Thomas Tuchel’s relationship with star forward Kylian Mbappe and the partying habits of Neymar rather than the team’s play in recent days at PSG.
While it has been off-field issues that have plagued PSG, they have still won four straight games. In midweek, the Parisians defeated Nantes 2-1 thanks to goals from Mauro Icardi and Thilo Kehrer.
Lyon will hope to get a big win at the Parc de Princes, however, their form hasn’t been good. Rudi Garcia’s team has taken just one point from its last four possible. Lyon lost 2-1 to Nice last weekend before finishing nil-nil with Amien in midweek.
Garcia’s team has won two of the last four matches versus PSG. However, those matches took place in Lyon. These sides played in September with PSG winning away from home. After a nil-nil first half, Neymar gave PSG the win with an 88th-minute goal.
Neymar was left out of PSG’s squad in midweek. It came just two days after his lavish 28th birthday party. The Brazilian has now missed time for PSG in each of the last three seasons at the time of his February birthday. He could miss out on the fixture versus Lyon.
Although Mbappe has had issues with Tuchel in recent weeks, he should be in the team and leading from the front. PSG will use the match as a warm-up for their upcoming Champions League last 16 game with Borussia Dortmund.
Lyon have a number of injuries and players will miss the match for Garcia. Memphis Depay is out for the remainder of the season due to an ACL injury. Jeff Reine-Adelaide is also out until the summer with a knee injury.
Ten of the last 12 matches between PSG and Lyon in all competitions ended with over 2.5 goals scored by these teams. Meanwhile, eight of the last 12 games featuring the two sides finished with both teams scoring goals.
Both trends should continue on Sunday night with over 2.5 goals and both teams scoring goals. The home side should once again prevail at the Parc de Prince.
PSG have won their last eight matches versus Lyon at the Parc de Prince in all competitions. The Parisians will claim a win once more with Mbappe possibly getting a goal against Lyon.