Fresh from the drama of their most recent game, Nice welcome Bordeaux to the Allianz Riviera for their Ligue 1 clash on Saturday.

With this weekend's game now confirmed to be played behind closed doors after the ugly scenes in the match against Marseille, the home side will be looking to create headlines on the pitch rather than off it.

Match preview

After their first two league games, all the headlines surrounding Nice were focused on their progress under new manager Christophe Galtier - particularly after the 4-0 thrashing of his former side, reigning champions Lille.

The match against Marseille last weekend changed all that, though.

With around a quarter of an hour remaining, and the home side leading 1-0 through a first-half Kasper Dolberg goal, Marseille's Dimitri Payet was struck in the back by a bottle.

The player launched the bottle back into the crowd, causing Nice fans to storm the pitch, and chaos ensued as stewards and players struggled to restrain the fans, with the players eventually leaving the field and the match being abandoned when Marseille refused to return.

Investigations are ongoing into the fans' behaviour, the actions of the players on the pitch and what happens to the result of the game, but it has been confirmed that the match against Bordeaux will take place behind closed doors.

It remains to be seen what effect that will have on the players, but Galtier will hope that this unsavoury moment will not come to define what had been shaping up as a promising campaign. A win here would certainly help smooth over some of the drama.

In comparison to their hosts, Bordeaux have had a very quiet start to the season, but it is equally not going totally to plan.

Things started badly with a disappointing 2-0 loss at home to newly promoted Clermont on the opening day and les Girondins are still yet to get their first win on the board.

Last weekend saw them play out a fairly dull 1-1 draw at home to Angers, Sekou Mara opening the scoring but seeing his goal cancelled out by Romain Thomas and the game fizzling out in the second half.

Despite having now effectively played one more game than Nice, they sit nine places below them on two points, 15th in the table.

The home side have won just one of their five previous games with Bordeaux, though - perhaps that, combined with the turbulent week the club is enduring, can give the visitors hope of claiming that first victory.

Team News

Nice have no fresh injury concerns to report despite the fracas during the Marseille game, but still have a fairly extensive list of players on the sidelines.

Alexis Claude-Maurice and Robson Bambu are due to be out for a few more weeks with a broken foot and a groin strain respectively, whilst there are also still doubts around Morgan Schneiderlin, Alexis Trouillet, Evann Guessand and new arrival Calvin Stengs.

Samuel Kalu has thankfully had the possibility of a heart defect ruled out by examinations following his collapse in Bordeaux's game against Marseille and has now returned to training.

Vladimir Petkovic does have some issues to work around, though, with doubts around Josh Maja - the forward suffering with a back issue - and Loris Benito, as well as long-term issues, including Paul Baysse's ACL injury.

There has also been action in the transfer market, with midfielder Toma Basic leaving for Lazio and Alberth Elis joining on loan from Boavista. It will likely be too early for the new arrival to feature and Basic looks set to be replaced in the starting XI by Yacine Adli.

Nice possible starting lineup:
Benitez; Atal, Todibo, Dante, Bard; Boudaoui, Lemina, Rosario, Kluivert; Dolberg, Gouiri

Bordeaux possible starting lineup:
Costil; Mangas, Kwateng, Koscielny; Pembele, Sissokho, Otavio, Adli, Mensah; Mara, Hwang

We say: Nice 1-1 Bordeaux

It is a tough call to make without knowing how the Nice players will be affected by the events of the past week, but Bordeaux have played out four draws in their last six games and have also drawn three of their last four meetings with Nice.

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