All you need to know: Montpellier-Paris!

A little history...

It's the 67th competitive encounter between the two sides and it's Les Parisiens who boast the better record with 28 victories, 21 draws and 17 defeats.

In Montpellier, however, the record falls less in Les Rouge et Bleu's favour: with just 9 victories, 12 draws and 11 defeats. Paris Saint-Germain head into the game on the back of a 3-1 win last season on 7 December 2019, almost one year to day before this trip to La Mosson.

At times, games in Montpellier have seen Les Parisiens find their shooting boots: it was at La Mosson that they scored five goals away from home for the first time in the club's history in the top flight on 13 April 1982, with 5 players getting on the scoresheet (5-2, goals scored by Sarr Boubacar, Dominique Rocheteau, Jean-Claude Lemoult, Ivica Surjak and Eric Renaut).

22 players have worn the shirts of both clubs: Christian André, William Ayache, Claude Barrabé, Bruno Carotti, Aliou Cissé, Patrick Colleter, Xavier Gravelaine, Vincent Guérin, Jonathan Ikoné, Thierry Laurey, Jean-Claude Lemoult, Francis Llacer, Patrice Loko, Claude Lowitz, Nicolas Ouédec, Christian Perez, Patrice Py, Laurent Robert, Stéphane Sessegnon, Benjamin Stambouli, Siaka Tiéné and Daniel Xuereb.

With five goals scored, Angel Di Maria is PSG's top scorer against Montpellier, ahead of Rai and Pedro Miguel Pauleta (4 buts).

The stakes...

Les Rouge et Bleu, the league leaders, travel to Montpellier on a run of two matches without a win in Ligue 1, after a defeat at Monaco (2-3, on 20/11/2020) and a draw against Bordeaux (2-2, on 28/11/2020). Paris Saint-Germain haven't had a winless run of three matches since the end of the 2018-2019 season (2-2 draw at Strasbourg, and defeats at Lille and Nantes).

There should be a winner at La Mosson on Saturday: in Les Parisiens' last thirty matches away from home in the league, Les Rouge et Bleu have only drawn on one occasion (4-4 at Amiens, on 15/02/2020) with 20 wins and 9 defeats.

One member of the Paris Saint-Germain squad could be celebrating a landmark in Montpellier: Marquinhos, who could play his 295th competitive match for Paris Saint-Germain and make it into the club's top 10, on a par with Blaise Matuidi.

Kylian Mbappé could also score his 100th goal for the club this evening and in doing so would become the sixth player to achieve the feat, in chronological order, Dominique Rocheteau (100 goals), Pedro Miguel Pauleta (109 goals), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (156 goals) and Edinson Cavani (200 goals).

Angel Di Maria, who has scored 49 goals in Ligue 1, could also hit 50 top-flight goals for the club. Only 11 Parisiens have scored more than 50 goals in the league for the club. Colin Dagba could also make his 50th competitive appearance in Rouge et Bleu.

After Timothée Pembélé's start against Bordeaux, 30 Paris Saint-Germain players have now played at least one league match in the 12 matches played. PSG have only hit the symbolic 30 players playing in one season on four occasions: in 1984-1985 (32 players), 2001-2002 (30 players), 2018-2019 (30 players) and 2019-2020 (31 players).

The keys to the match...

With 30 goals scored in their 12 matches, Paris Saint-Germain are the clear leaders in terms of goals scored in the league, ahead of Monaco (23 goals).

Paris Saint-Germain's forwards enjoy playing in Montpellier (15 goals scored in the last four league matches) and have scored 101 goals against the club in all competitions.

15 clubs have already conceded more than 100 goals against Les Parisiens: Saint-Étienne (157), Lyon (154), Lens (146), Bordeaux, Marseille et Nantes (141), Bastia (134), Metz (133) et Sochaux (127), Lille (124), Toulouse (119), Monaco (120), Nice (116), Rennes (113) and Montpellier (101).