Preview: Toulouse - PSG Handball

News

On Wednesday night, Paris Saint-Germain Handball travel to Toulouse to take on a Fenix side in a strong vein of form as the Lidl Starligue's Rond 15 gets under way.

Prolific attack, problems at the back

In tenth after 14 rounds, Le Fenix are yet to secure their survival but can still harbour high hopes for the 2018-19 campaign. Notably as they have a keen ability to find the back of the net! Philippe Garde's men boast the division's fourth-best front line with 408 goals scored at an average of 29 per match. Last week, Tremblay were in the firing line and duly ost out 23-35 at home. However, it's at the other end of the court that Toulouse are struggling: they have the Lidl Starligue's 12-best defence (410 goals conceded) and their porous back-line had cost them dearly.

Key losses

This winter, Toulouse lost out big time. Not in terms of points, as they are currently on a run of four wins that started in late November, but rather in their squad. In January, two key names left the club: Nemanja Ilic, still the club's top scorer for the current campaign with 72 goals, who signed for Barcelona, leaving Swedish left-back Markus Olsson (59 goals) to do the heavy lifting in front of goal. The second man to leave the club was 'keeper Kévin Bonnefoi, who racked up 65 saves with Toulouse this season before signing for Nantes to cover for the injured Cyril Dumoulin. But Yassine Idrissi (102 saves) is still there!

A look back at the first match

In early October, Toulouse made the long trip to the Stade Pierre de Coubertin to take on Les Rouge et Bleu in their Lidl Starligue Round 6 fixture. Our lads accomplished their mission perfectly with a dominant 36-30 win. Back-line duo Mikkel Hansen and Nedim Remili both shone brightly, with eight goals apiece. The France international also stood out thanks to a superb strike that saw him score from his own penalty area - despite tumbling to the ground in the process! Meanwhile, Spanish right-winger Ferran Sole posed our defence plenty of problems, dunking on them with an 8 from 8.

Our key stats

Heading into Round 15, Paris Saint-Germain Handball's record could hardly be better. On top of the table with the three-point lead over Nantes, Paris also boast some stunning stats: the division's most prolific attack (438 goals) and the second-tightest defence (349 goals). This goal difference of +89 is unparalleled this season. Also, as is the case in Europe, Mikki and Nedim are neck-and-neck on the scorers chart, having bagged 78 and 73 goals respectively. Meanwhile, Thierry Omeyer is one save away from his 100th of the season!

To follow the match (Throw-off at 20:45)

• Television: beIN SPORTS 3


• Live tweet: our official page

(Credits: TeamPics/PSG)