Ligue 1's early surprise package of the season, Lorient, travel to Stade de l'Aube to face Troyes on Sunday with Les Merlus currently second in the standings.

Going into the weekend, Lorient sit just three points behind league leaders Paris Saint-Germain after 11 matches.

Match preview

Lorient's dream start lost a little bit of momentum when they were held to a 0-0 draw by Reims last week, despite the visitors playing the whole second half a man light, and eventually finishing the game with nine men.

That would have sealed a seventh consecutive win for Regis Le Bris's side, who have seen a remarkable transformation from the team who only avoided relegation by four points last season.

They have dropped just seven points from those 11 games so far, losing only once, a 5-2 defeat away to fellow high-flyers Lens.

That defeat seemingly lit the spark which led them to go on their fantastic winning streak, and they will be confident they can get back to winning ways here.

However, there was further bad news after the 0-0 draw last week, as top scorer Terem Moffi went off injured in the first half and will miss a few weeks of action after a nasty roll of the ankle.

Moffi has notched eight goals in just 10 appearances so far this season, and his presence was missed as they tried to force their way through the Reims rearguard to no effect.

Troyes have made a relatively stable start to the season, but just one win in their last six shows that there is still room for improvement.

Manager Bruno Irles will just be happy that they are currently four points clear of the dreaded bottom four, with the additional relegation place meaning Troyes were fancied by many to go down, especially after narrowly avoiding the drop last season with Lorient.

Irles will have feared the worst when Troyes lost their opening three matches of the season, but taking advantage of red cards for both Monaco and Angers saw them record back-to-back victories at the end of August.

It has been a tale of late goals at home for them of late though, as a 90th-minute leveller saw them snatch a point off Reims at the start of the month, but they were given a taste of their own medicine when Ajaccio bagged a late equaliser of their own here last weekend to earn a draw.

Team News

Inter loanee Lucien Agoume is a doubt for Troyes after three weeks out with a muscular injury, as his only start for the club saw them win 3-1 at Clermont, so Irles will hope to have his midfielder back soon.

Yoann Salmier is back from suspension in defence, but after both Abdu Conte and Jackson Porozo scored in the last two games, Irles has a decision about whom to leave out.

Moffi's injury will keep him out for a few weeks in attack, so Ibrahima Kone looks the most likely candidate to replace the Nigerian for Lorient.

Laurent Abergel broke his arm in the first half against Brest two weeks ago, meaning he will be out of action until after the World Cup, but Gedeon Kalulu (calf) and Adil Aouchiche (muscle) will both be back in the coming weeks.

Samuel Loric is still out as the 22-year-old defender has been battling with injury all year.

Troyes possible starting lineup:
Lis; Porozo, Rami, Salmier; T Balde, Chavalerin, Tardieu, Larouci; Lopes, M Balde, Ripart

Lorient possible starting lineup:
Mvogo; Le Bris, Laporte, Talbi, Le Goff; Ponceau, Le Fee, Boisgard; Ouattara, Kone, Diarra

We say: Troyes 1-2 Lorient

Lorient have not won in this fixture in the last seven meetings, but they are currently on their best run of form in years, brimming with confidence.

The injury to Moffi may give Troyes some belief, and they have not been easy to beat in recent weeks, but Lorient may just have the edge in this encounter.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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