Matchday 21 - Friday and Saturday fixtures

Nice V Nantes - Kicks off at 20:00 GMT - Friday 14th January - live on BT Sport 1

Nice had a great result last weekend winning at Brest 3-0 despite having midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin sent off after just 20 minutes. Nice had taken an early lead when Kasper Dolberg struck from outside the box for his fifth goal of the season.

Schneiderlin saw red just seven minutes later, a little harshly, when sliding in to win the ball but then catching the player. Nice were largely dominated by the Bretons from then on but kept them out largely due to the performance of their Goalkeeper Walter Benitez. The Argentine made a string of fine saves to keep his team in the lead. The Nicois strikers then wrapped things up with Andy Delort then Amine Gouiri scoring their seventh and ninth goals of the season respectively. It was big win and saw the Les Aiglons finish the weekend second in the table and narrow the gap with PSG to eleven points. Les Aiglons really need to put a run together now to put some kind of pressure on the league leaders. They have dropped far to many points this season to be called title contenders at this time. Schneider line is suspended for this one whilst right back’winger Youcef Atal and midfielder Mario Lemina are still at the AFCON.

Nantes drew at home last weekend to Monaco 0-0 which was not a bad result given the key players they had missing due to the African Cup Of Nations. Four players in total are at the Tournament in Cameroon. Centre back Jean-Charles Castelletto, left back Charles Traore, winger Moses Simon (2 goals, 7 assists) and striker Kalifa Coulibaly (1 goal). Castelletto and Simon are integral to Les Canaris and manager Antoine Kombouaré will be hoping that Cameroon and Nigeria don't go too far in the Competition. They also have central midfielder Wylan Cyprien out with a hamstring injury. Les Nantais are on a good run of six games unbeaten, including Coupe De France, and sit in a healthy 9th place in Ligue 1. This could be a tough game for them however without some of their key players.

French Footy prediction: Nice 2 V Nantes 0

St Etienne V Lens - Kicks off at 16:00 GMT - Saturday 15th January

Saint Etienne's last game at Angers was postponed last week due to Covid-19. That may have been a good thing for new Manager Pascal Dupraz.

The 59 year old took over from the sacked Claude Puel in mid December and has over seen his new side in just three games. Two of those matches were victories over lower league sides in the Coupe De France. The important league game at home to Nantes just before Christmas was lost 1-0. Last week's reprieve means a bit more time to work with his players and a fixture where he didn't miss some of his important players due to AFCON. Saint Etienne have five players at the International Tournament. That's three defenders and his attack pairing of Denis Bouanga (3 goals) and Wahbi Khazri (7 goals). His Goalkeeper Etienne Green could be out with an elbow injury and forward Romain Hamouma has a thigh injury. Missing so many players is going to be hard to manage. At the time of writing only one player, striker Ignacio Ramirez has Covid-19. Ramirez has hardly featured since joining on loan from Liverpool Montevideo in August. Its yet another option lost to Dupraz. The new Coach has managed to bring in two players on loan from Angers. Goalkeeper Paul Bernardoni and winger Sadio Thioub have both signed for 6 months. Thioub I can understand as it gives Les Verts a few options. A goalkeeper would be the last thing I though they needed though as Etienne Green is a promising keeper, if a little inexperienced and understudy Stefan Bajic usually performs well when called upon. It will be interesting to see which goalkeeper starts on Saturday.

Lens are coming off one of their best results of the season after beating Rennes 1-0 at home last week. That was their first league win in seven games and narrowed the gap between them and their fellow Bretons to just one point. The goal came late on when Wesley Saïd turned in Jonathan Claus' cross to score the winner. Saïd has missed a lot of games this season through injury but that was his 5th goal in just 10 league games.

Claus meanwhile is having a great season and that cross became his eighth assist of the season. If Les Sangs est Ors can win here it will reignite their push for Europe. Only reserve goalkeeper Wuilker Faríñez is out with Covid whilst defender Massadio Haidara and striker Ignatius Ganago (3 league goals) are at the AFCON. Lens should be favourites here but Saint Etienne have to get something from this game. Will that desperation be enough for them to nick a point?

French Footy prediction: Saint Etienne 1 - Lens 1

PSG V Brest - Kicks off at 20:00 GMT - Saturday 15th January - Live on BT Sport 3

PSG drew yet again in their last match at Lyon. That’s now four draws and one win in the last five league games. Kylian Mbappe had two chances to equalise after Lyon’s early goal but saw both curled shots hit the post. When the equaliser did come it was from an unlikely source. German defender Thilo Kehrer came off the bench after 69 minutes and scored seven minutes later.

PSG are still top by a huge margin of eleven points so can afford to be a bit complacent in their performances. It’s a bad habit to get in to though so Manager Mauricio Pochettino will be expecting a win here. Achraf Hakimi, Abdou Diallo and Idrissa Gueye are still at the AFCON whilst Neymar Jr is still struggling with an ankle injury. Julian Draxler, Angel Di Maria, Layvin Kurzawa, Danilo Pereira and Gianlugi Donnarumma are out with Covid. Lionel Messi is out of isolation but after having the virus but is recovering from a related infection so may not feature either.

As mentioned above Brest were well beaten at home last week by Nice. The 3-0 score line doesn’t tell the whole story as Brest created plenty of chances but came up against an inspired goalkeeper. Les Pirates had been on a great run of form through December going eight games unbeaten and winning six of those straight. That run has been halted and they haven’t won in their last three so could do with a result here. It will be tough against the runaway league leaders but the good news for Michel Der Zakarian is Brest have no instances of Covid and only one player, midfielder Haris Belkebla, at the AFCON. If attacking players Romain Le Faivre and Franck Honorat perform at their best the Bretons have a chance of nicking a point here. It depends how motivated PSG are.

French Footy prediction: PSG 2 - Brest 1