Strasbourg begins their 2023 Ligue 1 journey against Troyes on Monday at the Stade de la Meinau after coming so near yet so far from knocking points off of unstoppable leaders Paris Saint-Germain.
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Struggling When Kylian Mbappé converted a 96th-minute penalty to give Paris Saint-Germain a 2-1 victory on Wednesday, Strasbourg was denied an unlikely point. Despite such heroic effort, Julien Stéphan, the manager, was dejected following the game because his team let slip what could have been a significant outcome and admitted that “points count everywhere, even in Paris.” Strasbourg will now return home in an effort to turn things around and avoid the distinction of being the only Ligue 1 team without a home victory this season after the result places them second from bottom and winless in six Ligue 1 games (D3, L3) (D5, L3). While a favourable outcome cannot be guaranteed for the home crowd, late drama may be in store given that eight of their past nine league games have seen at least one goal scored after the 70th minute.
Troyes lead Strasbourg by four points, but they enter the gameweek only two points above the enlarged four-team relegation zone. They have also gone eight league games without a victory (D5, L3), thus this game might be their greatest opportunity to create some distance between themselves and the danger zone since they will face three of the league’s top six teams in their following three games. The last time the visitors avoided defeat in their first Ligue 1 game of a new year was in 2006, albeit the visitors don’t have a great track record of beginning the year successfully (L5). The fact that they have failed to defeat Strasbourg in six trips in Ligue 1 (D2, L4) further suggests that this would be a difficult afternoon for manager Patrick Kisnorbo, who has yet to taste victory since joining the team in November.
Alexander Djiku, a Ghanaian defender who was implicated in a massive betting scam, was scheduled to miss Strasbourg’s match against PSG, but after his suspension was lifted, he took the field as captain. In the defeat to the champions, Les Couriers did not experience any new problems, although Colin Dagba, Eiji Kawashima, Dimitri Lienard, Maxime Le Marchand, Nordine Kandil, and Thomas Delaine are all dealing with injuries and may be sidelined once more.
Renaud Ripart or Ike Ugbo will lead the attack for Troyes since key attacker Mama Balde is serving the second of a two-game suspension and won’t be available for the visitors tonight. Karim Azamoum is still recovering from his ACL injury, but veteran center-back Adil Rami might fight his way back into the lineup after being left out against Nantes at the very last second.
Strasbourg probable starting lineup: Sels; Pierre-Gabriel, Nyamsi, Djiku, Perrin; Bellegarde, Prcic, Aholou; Thomasson; Diallo, Ajorque
Troyes probable starting lineup: Lis; T. Balde, Salmier, Palmer-Brown, Conte; Kouame, Chavalerin; Bruus, Lopes, Odobert; Ripart
Strasbourg
| Opponents | Score |
| Paris SG | 1-2 (L) |
| Karlsruher | 1-1 (D) |
| Feyenoord | 0-1 (L) |
| Lorient | 1-1 (D) |
| AC Ajaccio | 2-4 (L) |
Troyes
| Opponents | Score |
| Nantes | 0-0 (D) |
| Paris FC | 0-1 (L) |
| Leicester | 0-0 (L) |
| Brest | 1-2 (L) |
| Auxerre | 1-1 (D) |
| Last 5 match-results | Score |
| Troyes draw Strasbourg | 1-1 |
| Troyes draw Strasbourg | 1-1 |
| Strasbourg beat Troyes | 2-1 |
| Troyes beat Strasbourg | 3-0 |
| Troyes beat Strasbourg | 4-0 |
The Ligue 1 match between Strasbourg and Troyes will take place at Stade de la Meinau (Strasbourg) on Monday at 19:30 pm IST.
Football fans in India can catch the live action via Voot Select. Meanwhile, for those in France, live telecast of the match will be available on Amazon Prime Video.
