All you need to know about Lorient v. Paris

A BIT OF HISTORY...

This is the 37th competitive fixture between Lorient and Paris Saint-Germain. The head-to-head record lies heavily in favour of the Parisians, with 21 wins, six draws and nine defeats.

On 26th September 1970, a little over 51 years ago, Paris Saint-Germain drew 0-0 with Lorient at the Stade Yves-Allainmat on Matchday 5 of the Championnat National's Centre division (now Ligue 2). Along with Stade Brestois, FC Lorient are the oldest of Paris Saint-Germain's 19 opponents in Ligue 1 this season.

Tonight marks the 20th trip to Lorient for Les Rouge et Bleu, who hold an exceptional record there: 12 wins, four draws and just three defeats. The Parisians had been on a 12-game winning streak against Les Merlus and a 14-game unbeaten streak until last season's 3-2 away defeat on 31st January 2021.

Before that loss, Paris Saint-Germain had won eight competitive fixtures in a row away to Lorient, which is a record for the capital club. In the league, the Parisians had come out on top in each of their last six games at Le Moustoir, another record, held jointly with Nantes (whose run came to an end in 2018) and Metz (whose run is still ongoing).

9 players have worn the shirts of both clubs: Fabrice Abriel, Grégory Bourillon, Louis Cardiet, Fabrice Fiorèse, Kevin Gameiro, Ludovic Giuly, Christophe Jallet, Patrice Loko and Stéphane Pédron.

With eight goals scored, Zlatan Ibrahimovic is Paris Saint-Germain's top scorer against Lorient, ahead of Pedro Miguel Pauleta on four goals.

The Swedish striker is also the only Paris player to have ever scored a hat-trick against Les Merlus at the Parc des Princes, doing so in a 3-1 league win on 20th March 2015.

THE STAKES...

As the league leaders at the halfway stage of the season, Paris Saint-Germain will want to finish 2021 with one last win.

The capital club are on a run of six straight wins when it comes to the final game of the year – a 3-0 victory away to Caen in 2015 followed by successes at the Parc des Princes against Lorient (5-0, 2016), Caen once again (3-1, 2017), Nantes (1-0, 2018), Amiens (4-1, 2019) and Strasbourg (4-0, last year) – and haven't been beaten in this fixture since a 2-0 league defeat away to Nancy on 22nd December 2010, which makes it a total of ten consecutive games unbeaten.

THE KEYS TO THE match...

Paris Saint-Germain's away league record is satisfactory, with six wins, two draws and just one defeat – the best in Ligue 1 for the first half of the season.

With 17 goals, Les Rouge et Bleu are also top of the rankings for away goals scored, ahead of Bordeaux and Nice, who are both on 15.

To be continued in Brittany this evening!