Paris St Germain vs Rennes preview - Blanc warning for PSG

Posted Friday, January 30, 2015 by PA

Paris St Germain coach Laurent Blanc has told his team to concentrate only on their own preparations as they look to continue their upturn in form against mid-table Rennes at the Parc des Princes on Friday night.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored the only goal as Blanc's side put pressure on the top two in Ligue 1 with a 1-0 victory at St Etienne last weekend, earning the capital club back-to-back wins in the league.

The result saw the champions close the gap on leaders Lyon to four points, but Blanc has urged his players not to rest on their laurels.

"We are focusing primarily on our preparation," he said at his pre-match press conference, quoted on www.psg.fr. "Today, we have good momentum and we see signs of improvement in training. It is up to us to confirm this on the pitch, as we did in St Etienne.

"I'm not here to guess the style Rennes will adopt against us on Friday. Sometimes coaches announce that they will play a certain way at the Parc and then it is not necessarily reflected on the field.

"In the first game (1-1 in September), they were very efficient, and our side failed to deliver offensively. The key on Friday is to get the three points."

Ibrahimovic scored the decisive goal from the penalty spot last Sunday, but Blanc believes there is more to come from the Swede's strike partnership with Edinson Cavani.

"Ibra and Cavani have quite complementary games," he said. "But I think that their relationship can and should be refined. They are far from being incompatible, but again their partnership could be even better. They need to go further."

Thiago Motta misses out for the hosts through suspension, while fellow midfielder Clement Chantome will also play no part as he closes in on a move to Bordeaux.

"I hope for him that this will be resolved before the end of the transfer window," Blanc said of 27-year-old Chantome. "The situation with arrivals is quite complicated, because we are still bothered by the financial fair play. So there is a good chance we will play the second half of the season with a similar workforce."

Marquinhos looks set to continue at right-back in the absence of defensive duo Gregory van der Wiel (toe) and Serge Aurier (on Ivory Coast duty at the African Nations Cup).

Rennes forward Paul-Georges Ntep has been included in the travelling squad after recovering more quickly than anticipated from a thigh injury sustained against Evian earlier this month.

However, the visitors will be without winger Kamil Grosicki through injury and midfielder Ermir Lenjani due to suspension, while left-back Cheikh M'Bengue has not yet returned from African Nations Cup duty with Senegal.

Rennes coach Philippe Montanier recognises the size of the challenge ahead of his side, who went down 4-1 at home to lowly Caen last weekend, despite PSG's stuttering start to the campaign.

"It's one of the biggest challenges of the year because they are still unbeaten at home this season," Montanier said on www.staderennais.com. "This is not the best match to try to pick up points, but it is necessary for everyone."

He added: "Even when they are less superior, they are dominating. Some say Paris are not as good as before, but they are at a very high level."