A good part of the participants from the outset in the 32nd final of the Coupe de France won in Nantes against Vendée Fontenay (0-4), PSG’s last outing to date (December 20) have a good chance of playing again this Sunday at the Parc des Princes for the reception of the PFC on the occasion of this 17th day of L 1, the shortest derby in Europe.
Because the most important meeting for PSG is next week, with a first title, the Champions Trophy, against a huge rival, Marseille. It will be January 8 in Kuwait. Major players like Marquinhos could thus return to competition at that time, rather than this Sunday in the cold Parisian weather.
On the other hand, Luis Enrique does not really have a choice in several positions. Thus, Lucas Chevalier returns, after four games watching the exploits of Matvey Safonov, and a fifth and last on the bench, to give playing time to the third goalkeeper, Renato Marin, in Nantes in the Cup. In front of the highly anticipated former Lille player, the defense lined up on December 20 could return to service with Illia Zabarnyi, Lucas Beraldo and Lucas Hernandez. The only exception: the tireless Warren Zaire-Emery should be aligned on the right, David Boly being injured and Achraf Hakimi still at CAN, just like winger Ibrahim Mbaye.
In midfield, Vitinha likes to play everything and plays everything. Senny Mayulu and João Neves could complete the trio while Kang-In Lee (left thigh) is one of the packages with Safonov (left hand) and Quentin Ndjantou (right thigh). Up front, Ousmane Dembélé needs to launch his season, Désiré Doué needs to get back on track with his and Bradley Barcola could be preferred to Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, victim of a blow on Friday in training, and preserved for the poster against Marseille on January 8.
Six starters absent from Paris FC
On the side of Paris FC, the coach of Stéphane Gilli must deal with the absences of five players who left for the CAN (Kebbal, Chergui, Traoré, Simon, Krasso) and two injured (Lees-Melou and Dicko) or six starters. The promoted player will play without a professional right-back and with several players who have disappointed until then or have not had much playing time until then. Several young people from the reserve (Regional 1) will complete the group of 20.
“The team will be different but not diminished,” says Stéphane Gilli. It’s not a headache, but you have to think to find the best formula to face this PSG team. We have worked on things and we will try to field the most competitive team possible. »
In the absence of its playing master Ilan Kebbal, Paris FC could abandon its usual 4-3-3 to strengthen its defense or its midfield. Either with a 3rd central defender (Kolodziejczak or De Smet) or with a hybrid system like in Marseille and Monaco with a player positioned as a sentry/3rd defender (Camara or Marchetti). Depending on the configuration, Maxime Lopez could play higher than usual. Up front, Jonathan Ikoné and Willem Geubbels will have to make up for the absences of the Kebbal-Krasso-Simon trio.
