Five things on PSG Handball - Toulouse
After their victory over Saint-Raphaël on Tuesday evening (23-37), Paris Saint-Germain Handball are right back to Lidl StarLigue action, with the Round 4 visit of Toulouse to the Stade Pierre de Coubertin looming on Friday evening.
Delicate start
Les Rouge et Bleu are firing on all cylinders in the Lidl StarLigue, with three wins from as many matches so far this season. Unfortunately for Toulouse, the season has not started on such a positive note. Their opening-day win away to Chambéry (24-28) was quickly followed by a home loss to Nîmes (28-29), and Philippe Gardent's men returned form their trip to Nantes empty handed on Wednesday (31-28) despite a quality performance.
The return of Édouard
Facing The H, Édouard Kempf managed to find the net on both of his two attempts, and no doubt he will want to do as well on Friday. Indeed, the match will have a special lustre for the 22-year-old right-winger, who will be playing his first game against his boyhood club after leaving the nest last summer. As a reminder, Édouard came up through the Parisian youth academy, where he won three French Championship titles and participated in Coupe de la Ligue win. In the opposite camp, Ferran Solé Sala, who went the opposite way, will be reunited with his former Toulouse teammates, with whom he spent four seasons and scored 421 goals.
Merci les amis🙏🏼 à bientôt 😘 https://t.co/nHLK1eiPYf
— Edouard Kempf (@EdesKempf) July 6, 2020
Key stats
Paris' stats reflect their rock-solid start to the season. After three rounds, they boast the Lidl StarLigue's most prolific scoring record, with 110 goals - including 14 by Mikkel Hansen. Defensively, Les Rouge et Bleu have also made things tough for their opponents' defences. They have conceded just 75 times (fourth-best defense), thanks in particular to an excellent Vincent Gérard. Our 'keeper currently sits third on the saves chart with 31 parries (historically, he is the league's best in this domain, with a total of 3,114 shots stopped in his career). Toulouse have scored 84 times (sixth-best attack attack), for as many goals conceded (eighth-best defense).
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Head-to-head
Historically, the capital club have only rarely tasted defeat against Toulouse, their head-to-head record sitting at four defeats, one draw and no fewer than 24 wins! It should be noted that, of all their clashes at Coubertin, Toulouse have won just one. This dates back to September 27, 2008, when Toulouse won by the narrowest of margins (30-31), despite six goals from our former left-winger Saïd Ouksir, who is now physical trainer for Paris. In all competitions home and away, Paris Saint-Germain Handball's last defeat to Le Fenix dates back to 19 October, 2011 (31-27). Since then, our have strung together a run of 17 matches without defeat, including ten consecutive victories!
To follow the match (kick-off at 20:00):
• Television: beIN SPORTS 1
• At the Pierre de Coubertin Stadium: get your tickets on our official website
• Live tweet: our official page
(Credits: TeamPics/PSG)