Preview: PSG Handball - Saint-Raphaël

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On Thursday night, Paris Saint-Germain Handball close out the Lidl StarLigue's Round 3 when they play host to Saint-Raphaël in a reprise of the recent Trophée des Champions semi-final.

A season to build on
This year, the side from Var in France's south-east will be looking to build on an excellent season 2017-2018, when they clinched a fourth-placed finish with some prestigious results against the likes of Montpellier (26-25). Their greatest success came in the EHF Cup, however, where they made it to the Final4 and beat host side Magdeburg - ending a prodigious home unbeaten run for the German side 27-28 - thanks to a huge performance from star Raphaël Caucheteux (12 goal). Unfortunately, their run ended in the final, where they lost to German side Fuchse Berlin (25-28).

Account unopened
Despite their excellent form last season, Saint-Raphaël are yet to open their account in the current Lidl StarLigue campaign. After two rounds, they remain on zero points thanks to consecutive defeats, but it must be said that their fixture list did them no favours and that they lost by extremely narrow margins. First of all, against neighbours Nîmes, who pipped them at the death (25-26) and then, a week later, in another south-coast derby, they fell to Aix-en-Provence in the final moments (31-29).

Act 2
Thursday's match will be the second time the two clubs have faced off this season, the first having come just three weeks ago in the Trophée des Champions semi-final in Montbéliard. The match went in favour of SRVHB, who made the most of a ten-minute attacking slump from our lads to turn things around late in the match. Played in perfectly down the right flank, Raphaël Caucheteux struck late to send his team through to the final (25-26), where they fell to Montpellier (32-27) the following day.

Our key stats
In the league, the Rouge et Bleu have started the campaign all guns blazing: they boast the best attack (69 goals) and fourth-best defence (45 goals conceded) and sit in top spot on the Lidl StarLigue table with two wins from as many matches. In individual terms, Uwe Gensheimer's name is cropping up once again, the Germany captain second on the scorers chart with 15 goals, level with leader Branko Kankaras, who boasts a higher efficiency level (79% for Uwe, 94% for the Istres pivot). Meanwhile, Thierry Omeyer is among the league's top ten 'keepers with 15 saves (13 for Rodrigo Corrales).

To follow the match (throw-off at 17:30)

(Credits: J. Azouze/PSG)