Paris Saint-Germain takes on FC Nantes at the Stade de la Beaujoire on Tuesday night but will do so without several of their preferred starters.
The news about Neymar Jr.’s inflamed rib cartilage has made headlines but there are several other injuries, especially on defense, that manager Thomas Tuchel will have to compensate for against Les Canaris.
Abdou Diallo, Marquinhos, Thiago Silva, Juan Bernat, and Colin Dagba are all out of the squad. Joining them is Ander Herrera and Garissonne Innocent along with Neymar. You could field a pretty good team with those players.
Tuchel will have to shuffle his backline quite a bit but he should have enough quality available to keep Nantes quiet at home. Here is who I think the German tactician will go with as PSG look to add to their lead at the top of the Ligue 1 table.
Formation: 4-4-2
Goalkeeper: Keylor Navas
Defenders: Layvin Kurzawa, Presnel Kimpembe, Tanguy Kouassi, Thomas Meunier
Midfielders: Marco Verratti, Idrissa Gueye
Forwards: Pablo Sarabia, Mauro Icardi, Kylian Mbappé, Angel Di Maria
The back four will be exactly what we saw against Montpellier HSC last Saturday. The same goes for the midfield and goalkeeper.
With Neymar out, I believe that opens up a starting spot for Pablo Sarabia, who is coming off a game where he recorded a goal and an assist against Montpellier.
I think Tuchel will start Kylian Mbappé but it will be really interesting if he doesn’t. The two didn’t see eye-to-eye during the match against Montpellier when Tuchel subbed off his star in the 68th minute. If the Frenchman starts on the bench, it will likely be seen as some kind of punishment for his actions.
My prediction is a nervy 2-1 win for PSG. I think the fixture congestion is starting to catch up to PSG and at home last December, PSG only defeated Nantes 2-0 and needed a late penalty kick from Neymar to seal the three points.
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