Paris Saint-Germain vs Le Havre

Parc des Princes forms the backdrop for a ‘David vs Goliath’ Ligue 1 clash between Paris Saint-Germain and Le Havre.

Paris Saint-Germain had to survive a late scare to overcome Aston Villa in their Champions League quarter-final tie in midweek, losing 3-2 in the second leg in England but progressing as 5-4 aggregate winners. That defeat, however, halted PSG’s seven-game winning streak in all competitions. Back to their Ligue 1 commitments, Luis Enrique’s charges seek French football history after defending their title a fortnight ago with a 1-0 home win against Angers. Indeed, Les Parisiens could become the first team in Ligue 1 history to go through a season unbeaten (W23, D5). There’s no better place than Parc des Princes to achieve that feat, with PSG dropping only four points on home soil all season (W12, D2), though both draws came against sides starting the round in the bottom half of the table. 

That must be music to Le Havre’s ears after a thumping 5-1 defeat against Rennes last week knocked them down from a two-game winning streak. Le Havre’s joint-heaviest loss of the campaign saw them finish the round in the bottom three with only five matches to go, opening up a two-point deficit to safety. Finding a way out of the drop zone would require Didier Digard’s side to rewrite the club’s history and post their first H2H win against PSG in the 21st century (D1, L7). As if that’s not worrying enough, the visitors have slumped to 12 defeats across 14 encounters against teams commencing this matchday in the upper half of the table (W2), with nine coming via multi-goal margins.