Saint-Etienne vs Rennes

Rennes will visit the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard to play Saint-Etienne in Ligue 1 on Saturday evening.

Manchester City remains the only club that outspent Saint-Etienne during January while this match could potentially introduce multiple new players to the starting lineup.

Rennes invested €85m (£70m) throughout the winter transfer window to strengthen their team across all positions in their attempt to reverse their poor season.

The Red and Blacks made a coaching change by dismissing Jorge Sampaoli after two months in charge and promoting Habib Beye to the position who achieved his first victory last week.

Sampaoli's five-game losing streak ended when Rennes defeated Strasbourg 1-0 while his team had lost four league matches and suffered a Coupe de France elimination to Troyes.

Rennes maintains its positive league momentum by securing consecutive victories for the first time since January 2021 while escaping the bottom three positions last weekend.

The away match at La Valletude poses a challenge because Rennes demonstrate the worst away performance among all European clubs.

The single point Rennes have earned from their nine away matches clearly demonstrates their position near the bottom despite their strong home performance.

Rennes leads the bottom half of the league with their goal-scoring numbers yet they need to develop team unity under Beye to move closer to the top half of the table.

Saint-Etienne, who are also under new management after Eirik Horneland was hired over the winter break, are the team in their way and are aiming to take advantage of their terrible away record.

Despite taking the lead against Lille last weekend, ASSE lost 4-1 and fell into the bottom three as a result of Rennes' victory. Nantes also moved three points clear of them.

Though Saint-Etienne has won five of their nine league games at the Guichard, where they have scored an incredible 89% of their points this season, confidence will be high in front of a home crowd.

Even though Les Verts only managed to draw 1-1 with Nantes last time out, they have already amassed more home victories than they did in their previous three top-flight seasons with eight games remaining at the Guichard this season.

However, with the fight expected to be close until its conclusion in May and Horneland's team still only three points above the automatic relegation spots, a late equalizer from Augustine Boakye might be significant for the hosts at the end of the season.