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Paris Saint-Germain will visit Reims on Saturday in a showdown at the top of the table, offering the best-case scenario for Warren Zaire-Emery to claim a starting spot with France.
On Thursday, the 17-year-old was called up via Didier Deschamps to France’s senior squad for the upcoming foreign rounds on November 18 and 21.
The captain of the French Under-21 team has been the undisputed star of Ligue 1 this season, making his call-up one of the first in Luis Enrique’s squad in each and every game.
If PSG’s midfield takes on Gibraltar or Greece, he will be the youngest French foreigner since before the First World War.
As Zaire-Emery has matured, PSG have also been in excellent form in Ligue 1 in recent weeks and come into the weekend with a one-point lead with 4 wins from their last five games.
However, they will want to bounce back from a poor midweek performance in the Champions League in Milan, where they lost 2-1.
After an unusually quiet night on Tuesday, goals will be on the mind of Ligue 1 top scorer Kylian Mbappe, but Reims have scored just five goals at home this season.
The Champagne team has quietly climbed this season to 4th position in the standings, coach Will Still, and has won 4 of its last six games.
– Healthy lead –
Ahead of PSG by one point, Nice will have a chance to widen that gap by sailing along the south coast to Montpellier on Friday.
Nice have been on fire since the beginning of September, dropping points once in the 0-0 draw against Brest.
Montpellier has had ups and downs all season, suffering 11 problems in 10 games this season.
They have had a rocky start to November and now face Nice after their 3-0 loss to PSG last Friday.
Marseille has come under scrutiny in recent weeks after the stoning of the Lyon team bus, coach Fabio Grosso’s injury and a bland 0-0 draw at home to Lille last weekend.
Desperate to find positives on the pitch, they leave the Vélodrome this Sunday to face Lens in the Champions League.
One position separates the two teams in the table, but Lens will now go into the game looking for some confidence after Wednesday’s loss to PSV Eindhoven knocked them out of the round of 16.
To watch: Ousmane Dembélé
The PSG striker would probably have turned the page last weekend with his brilliant performance against Montpellier, where he gave a hand and a constant thorn in the side of the opposition.
Arriving this summer from Barcelona for 50 million euros ($53 million), French foreigner Dembele has set Ligue 1 on fire, keeping a clean sheet in 10 appearances.
After a largely anonymous midweek performance against AC Milan, a return to the league alongside a goal-hungry Mbappe and a Zaire-Emery brimming with confidence could be the best typhoon to revive him.
Key Stats
3 – Warren Zaire-Emery, aged 17 years and 255 days, would be the third-youngest player to feature France if he faced Gibraltar, according to Opta statisticians.
25 – That’s how many problems Nice have after 11 games this season, the second-highest figure they have achieved at this level of a season in forty-five years.
Calendar (GMT hours)
Friday
Montpellier-Nice (2000)
Sabbath
Reims vs Paris Saint-Germain (16:00), Le Havre vs Monaco (2000)
Sunshine
Clermont vs. Lorient, Lille vs. Toulouse, Metz vs. Nantes (all 1400), Rennes vs. Lyon (1605), Lens vs. Marseille (1945)
Thursday, December 7
Brest v Strasbourg (1930) – postponed due to weather
NF/CH