Three for three in the 2024-25 Ligue 1 campaign, Paris Saint-Germain return from the international break with a home showdown against Brest on Saturday evening. Luis Enrique's men strolled past Lille 3-1 two weekends ago, while their visitors belatedly got off the mark for the new season by seeing off Saint-Etienne 4-0.
No Kylian Mbappe, no problem for PSG, who have already enjoyed four victories in the 2024-25 campaign so far - three in the top flight and one in their bitter legal battle with their all-time top scorer over his alleged £46m worth of unpaid wages. After thumping Le Havre 4-1 on the opening weekend and hitting Montpellier HSC for six without reply on matchday two, PSG travelled to Lille - the latest team to deny them the Ligue 1 title in 2020-21 - and quickly stormed into a 2-0 lead thanks to Vitinha's spot kick and Bradley Barcola's fine finish. A well-taken strike from Edon Zhegrova cut Les Dogues' arrears in half, but after the VAR room denied Tiago Santos a memorable equaliser, Randal Kolo Muani put the icing on the cake for the reigning French champions deep into additional time.
The only team to boast nine points from a possible nine so far, PSG have assumed their rightful position at the summit of the Ligue 1 standings, although all of Marseille, Nantes, Monaco, Lens, Lille and Le Havre are within touching distance. Having been guilty of losing their way at the Parc des Princes over the past couple of seasons, PSG are aiming to make it back-to-back home wins in the top flight for the first time in 2024, having not strung together a streak of at least two league victories in Paris since December.
Replicating last season's astonishing run to the Champions League was always going to be a tall order for Brest, who experienced a humbling start to the new campaign with a 5-1 home trouncing at the hands of Marseille before a 2-0 loss on Lens' turf. However, the visit of newly-promoted Saint-Etienne on August 31 was just what the doctor ordered for Eric Roy's troops, who showed no mercy to Les Verts and inflicted a 4-0 thrashing upon them courtesy of efforts from Mahdi Camara, Romain Del Castillo, Ludovic Ajorque and Kenny Lala.
Les Pirates' opening win of the season at the third attempt leaves Roy's men in an unspectacular 12th spot, but Ligue 1 matters may soon take a back seat for the Pirates faithful, whose side have some blockbuster Champions League matches to come between now and February. A clash with Sturm Graz on September 19 is not exactly a spectacular opening, but Brest will welcome Bayer Leverkusen and Real Madrid to their humble home in the next few months, as well as a trip to face Barcelona in late November.
For now, though, improving on a measly 9% win rate against the Ligue 1 champions is action point number one for Brest, who have failed to win any of their last 25 top-flight matches against PSG, and it has been 43 years since they overcame Les Parisiens away from home. PSG's long-term injury absentees Goncalo Ramos (ankle), Presnel Kimpembe (Achilles) and Lucas Hernandez (ACL) remain out of contention, while Nuno Mendes sat out the Lille win with a virus but recovered in time to feature for Portugal during the international period. However, Mendes's compatriot Vitinha picked up his own ankle injury in the win over Croatia, which has rendered him doubtful for the visit of Brest, while Warren Zaire-Emery also withdrew from the France squad with a calf problem to complicate Enrique's midfield dilemma further. Vitinha and Zaire-Emery both started the win over Lille, but the hosts have two capable deputies in the shape of Lee Kang-in and Fabian Ruiz, the latter of whom excelled for Spain in their recent victory over Switzerland.
As for Brest, Roy was forced to bring centre-back Julien Le Cardinal off against Saint-Etienne due to an unexplained issue, so the door might be open for Borussia Dortmund loanee Soumaila Coulibaly to start in the heart of defence. Bradley Locko (Achilles) and Pierre Lees-Melou (leg fracture) represent the only other two injury concerns in the Pirates' squad, which was reinforced on deadline day with the signings of left-back Massadio Haidara and striker Mama Balde. Haidara was a cornerstone of the Lens team that were transformed from Ligue 2 hopefuls to Ligue 1 title challengers in the space of a couple of years, and the 31-year-old will scrap it out with Jordan Amavi for left-back duties in Paris.
Le Parisien reports that Luis Enrique is set to make 4 changes to his team that defeated Lille 3-1 before the pause of domestic action for the international break. Two of these changes are set to come in midfield and are enforced due to injuries the players have sustained on international duty. Vitinha and Warren Zaïre-Emery are both unavailable for the match. As a result, Fabián Ruiz and Désiré Doué are set to start.
Luis Enrique is set to make one change in defence with Yoram Zagué set to replace Marquinhos who has been playing in South America for Brazil. The final change is set to be in attack with Ousmane Dembélé set to be replaced by international teammate Randal Kolo Muani.
Gianluigi Donnarumma – Achraf Hakimi, William Pacho, Lucas Beraldo, Yoram Zagué – João Neves, Fabián Ruiz, Désiré Doué – Bradley Barcola, Randal Kolo Muani, Marco Asensio.
Trying to get one over PSG has been a fruitless task for Brest for years, and Les Pirates' fortunes against the champions should not change in the capital this weekend, even with the hosts weaker in midfield than they were at the beginning of the month. Enrique's attackers have been scoring for fun and sharing the goals around so far this term, so another dominant win for the champions is the only outcome we can envisage.For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
