Preview: PSG Handball - Saint-Raphaël

News

Paris Saint-Germain Handball return to Lidl StarLigue action on Wednesday evening playing host to in-form Saint-Raphaël in their Round 11 clash at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin.

Return to form
After a very difficult start to the season - five defeats in five matches - Saint-Raphaël seem to have turned the corner in weeks. Their change of fortunes came in the south of France, with a draw against Montpellier (29-29) paving the way for their first win of the season, in Aix (25-27). These two positive results got their season properly under way and now the side from the Var region are on a run of four wins - including a stylish win at home to Chambéry (28-23) - that has lifted them out of the relegation zone and into the middle of the table on nine points. Les Rouge et Bleu will thus be up against a side in fine form and full of confidence.

League top scorer
Although they sit atop the standings with a perfect record of ten wins from ten matches, Raul Gonzalez's men aren't necessarily in for an easy night. Indeed, they will be up against a goal machine called Raphaël Caucheteux. The 2.02m left-winger is currently Lidl StarLigue's leading scorer on 74 goals, a full 11 strikes clear of nearest rival Valero Rivera of Nantes. But the Parisians are well aware of the danger. First of all because several players in our squad play alongside Caucheteux for France, but also because the 34-year-old has been terrorising France's top flight for 16 seasons, first with Montpellier and now with Saint-Raphaël. This longevity - and his prolific scoring capacity - have made him the league's all-time leading scorer with a career haul of 1785 goals in France's handball élite.

The latest confrontations
Twenty-four matches, one draw, one defeat... this is Paris Saint-Germain Handball's over their entire 2018-2019 Lidl StarLigue campaign. Their only defeat, conceded a few days after officially clinching the French Championship in Aix (20-29), was conceded to Saint-Raphaël (33-31), four rounds before the end of the season. In a hard-fought encounter, Caucheteux did the damage, beating Rodrigo Corrales and Thierry Omeyer on 14 occasions to get his side over the line. More generally, however, our team has dominated this fixture, with 16 wins for only eight defeats. At the Stade Pierre de Coubertin, Paris have nine wins and three defeats.

Statistics in a few figures
In terms of statistics, the Parisians are on the offensive. With 339 goals scored in 10 league matches (an average of almost 34 goals per game), they have the best offensive line in Lidl StarLigue. It should be noted that they have scored at least 30 goals in every match this season. Saint-Raphaël have scored 282 goals and conceded 284 (275 for Paris). Finally, while Les Rouge et Bleu will be deprived of their top scorer (Nedim Remili, 46 goals), we can highlight the strong form of Mikkel Hansen, who is coming off a 14-goal haul at Créteil (29-38) that equalled his personal best scoring performance in a single match. As a reminder, this weekend in Aalborg (29-32), he reached the 800-goal mark in the Velux EHF Champions League.

To follow the match (kick-off at 20:30)
- Television: beIN SPORTS Max 4
- At the Pierre de Coubertin Stadium: get your tickets on our official website
- Live tweet: our official page

(Credits: J. Azouze/PSG)