Preview: Nice vs. Nimes - prediction, team news, lineups

Nice host Nimes in Ligue 1 on Wednesday, with the visitors looking for the win which could move them out of the relegation zone.

The hosts, meanwhile, ended a run of three consecutive defeats with a crucial 2-1 win at Rennes on Friday to move seven points clear of Nimes and the bottom three.

Match preview

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After sacking former Arsenal midfielder Patrick Vieira from his position as manager in December after crashing out of the Europa League at the group stage, it has largely been a season to forget for Nice.

Vieira's successor, Adrian Ursea, has failed to have the impact the club would have hoped, with three successive losses seeing them drop to 16th in the table.

Friday's win at Rennes was a crucial one, then, with Flavius Daniliuc's stooping second-half header enough to earn it after Amine Gouiri's penalty and Martin Terrier's rocket from distance had seen the two sides go into the half-time interval level.

A home match against struggling Nimes represents a real opportunity for Ursea to put to bed any lingering relegation fears, with a top-half finish still far from being out of the equation.

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Nimes, on the other hand, have certainly had a new manager bounce since replacing Jerome Arpinon with Pascal Plancque last month.

The 57-year-old, who previously managed Niort and was Claude Puel's assistant manager at Southampton and Leicester City, was initially brought in as a co-manager at the beginning of 2021, but has taken 10 points from four league games since Arpinon departed the club to give Nimes a real chance of survival.

Having been 18th prior to all French football being curtailed last season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Nimes were perhaps fortunate to remain in Ligue 1, but if they do manage to stay up from here then it will be down to their hard work on the field.

Indeed, they showed great resolve in claiming a 1-1 draw against relegation rivals Nantes last weekend, with Moussa Kone cancelling out Ludovic Blas's first-half strike.

Nice Ligue 1 form: LWLLLW
Nice form (all competitions): WWLLLW

Nimes Ligue 1 form: LLWWWD
Nimes form (all competitions): LLWWWD

Team News

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Nice have several first-team players missing due to injury at present, with Rony Lopes, Kasper Dolberg, Jordan Lotomba, Jeff Reine-Adelaide, Youcef Atal, Danilo Barbosa and Dante all ruled out of the game against Nimes.

Ursea is unlikely to make any changes to the XI which performed so well against Rennes, with former Manchester United midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin keeping his place in the midfield.

Nimes, meanwhile, have a similarly long list of absentees, with Lucas Deaux, Karim Aribi, Anthony Briancon, Lucas Buades, Pablo Martinez, Sidy Sarr, Clement Depres and Antoine Valerio all out injured.

Florian Miguel is suspended after being sent off in injury time against Nantes.

Nice possible starting lineup:
Benitez; Daniliuc, Saliba, Todibo, Nsoki; Maolida, Reine-Adelaide, Schneiderlin, Kamara; Boudaoui, Gouiri

Nimes possible starting lineup:
Reynet; Alakouch, Guessoum, Landre, Meling; Eliasson, Fomba, Cubas, Benrahou, Ferhat; Ripart

We say: Nice 2-1 Nimes

Despite Nimes' recent upturn in form under Plancque, we expect Nice to have taken a great degree of confidence from their win at Rennes.

With relegation fears significantly eased, the hosts should be able to play with more freedom than of late, with their quality likely to tell come the final whistle.