Preview: 5 things about Saint-Raphaël - Paris

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Paris Saint-Germain Handball travel to Saint-Raphaël's Palais des Sports Jean-François Krakowski on Saturday, aiming to continue their unbeaten start to the league season. We take a look at the key points of this Liqui Moly StarLigue Round 14 fixture.

1 - THE TABLE

Saint-Raphaël have made a particularly solid start to the season, proving themselves to be one of the trickiest teams in the Liqui Moly StarLigue, as evidenced by their draw away to Montpellier (35-35). The team from the Var region are coming off back-to-back wins at Chartres (24-27) and Limoges (39-37). Earlier in the week, they beat Tremblay 35-36 to book their place in the quarter-finals of the Coupe de France.

The capital club also secured a place in the quarter-finals thanks to a comprehensive 44-27 win over Saran in their final match at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin for 2023. After overcoming Cesson-Rennes last week (34-26), the Parisians will be looking to continue their perfect record in the Liqui Moly StarLigue as they travel to Saint-Raphaël before rounding off the year at Nîmes on Wednesday.

2 - TWO TOP ATTACKS...

The clash between the Parisians and the Provençals will provide an opportunity see two of the division's best attacks in action. Trailing only Raul Gonzalez's men (479 goals) and Nantes (457) on the attacking table, Saint-Raphaël have been clinical up front this season. They can count on the efficiency of José Maria Coloma Marquez (86 goals) and Johannes Marescot (63 goals), but the capital club are still dominating the various tables, with Kamil Syprzak the top scorer after 13 rounds with 91 goals despite his brief absence due to an injury sustained a few weeks ago.

3 - … AND TWO VERY DIFFERENT DEFENCES

Saint-Raphaël may be effective in attack, but Benjamin Braux's men are struggling at the back this season. With 430 goals conceded, they have the 14th-best defence in the league, ahead only of Créteil (433) and Dijon (449). The team conceding the most shots this season, Saint-Raphaël have only managed to stay under the 30-goals conceded barrier on three occasions this season, and only once on home turf. Unfortunately, this stat does no justice to Rangel Luan Da Rosa, who has made 131 saves this season, more than any other goalkeeper. However, the Brazilian custodian has already faced a record 468 shots this season.

4 - HEAD TO HEAD

Over the last few seasons, meetings between Paris and Saint-Raphaël have been particularly high-scoring affairs. With seven consecutive wins over SRVHB, Les Rouge et Bleu have scored 39 goals per game over that period. More generally, Paris have a very good record, with 23 wins and eight defeats.

5 - TO FOLLOW THE MATCH

Throw-off: 20:00

Television: BeIn Sports 3

Social networks: Live-Tweet

(Credits: L.Valroff/Team Pics/PSG)