Sunday’s meeting between Brest and Angers has the hallmarks of a must-win match for both sides, yet it is the home side who are substantially better placed to get three precious points.

The main reason for confidence in the home side is that their opponents are facing an injury crisis. Angers could approach this game missing a string of players, with doubts surrounding forwards Amine Salama and Abdallah Sima after they failed to train on Thursday with no reason given as to why. There is already a substantial injury list for the coach to deal with.

On top of this, Angers are in no kind of form whatsoever. They have lost their last 11 league matches, and while they did triumph in the Coupe de France last weekend, their opponents on that occasion were an amateur side from the regional leagues. Even then, they only managed an unimpressive 1-0 win.

Brest are not without their issues, particularly at home, where they have won only one of nine this season, but they have shown an improvement under new head coach Eric Roy, who has overseen a couple of draws against Lille and Toulouse. They might have lost 3-1 at home to Lens last weekend in the cup, but there is a substantial difference in quality between the title challengers and Angers.

The hosts also have recent history on their side in this encounter, having picked up a 3-1 win over the bottom side back in August on their travels.

Clermont host Nantes on Sunday having won their last three Ligue 1 matches, but Sunday’s clash promises to be a difficult one for them.

The head-to-head record, for one thing, strongly favours Nantes. Les Canaris have lost only one of their last seven against Clermont and are undefeated in their last three against this opponent away from home. Even when they were in a period of dreadful form in the autumn, they picked up a 1-1 draw.

Additionally, Nantes have increased the depth of their squad in the January transfer window substantially, notably reinforcing their attacking options and their defence to better cope with a busy period ahead.

Clermont, meanwhile, had never won three Ligue 1 matches in succession before their current streak, so recording a fourth would be doubling their previous best streak.

Moreover, the Auvergnat side face a difficult predicament in terms of their squad management this week as they face three sides who are all in good form. After this fixture, they face a long trip north to tackle Lille and they play Monaco at home. Pascal Gastien may have a fit squad, but it is scarcely equipped to cope with such a testing run of fixtures and has actually been reduced in numbers over January so far.

It is hard to see Nantes, who have lost only one of their last 13 matches in all competitions and have won four of their last five, slipping up here.

PSG are short-priced favourites to overcome Reims at Parc des Princes on Sunday, but while the Parisians are likely to win the match, they are liable to be drawn into a battle by the Champagne club, which has not lost under the stewardship of highly rated head coach Will Still.

Indeed, the visitors approach this game undefeated in their last 13 matches, which included a scoreless home draw against PSG in the first half of the season, and it is that blueprint that they will likely seek to follow in the French capital. That result was no fluke. It was followed by a scoreless draw against a Lorient side that was second in the league at the time, while they have also beaten Rennes and drawn with Lille.

Still’s side is pragmatic and is not drawn into high-scoring matches. Only two of their last 10 league fixtures have produced more than three goals.

Perhaps more surprisingly is the relatively number of low-scoring fixtures that PSG take part in. Only three of their last 16 league matches have seen more than three goals, so the probability of them increasing that ratio against a stuffy Reims side seems low.

Furthermore, PSG will be moving into squad management mode at this point of the season as they approach a run of eight games in four weeks, including two against Marseille and one each against Bayern Munich, Monaco, and Lille. With that in mind, expect to see key players treated with caution, decreasing the likelihood of goals further.

This clash between second and third is bound to be a thriller, coming after both teams were involved in midweek Copa del Rey excitement as Real Sociedad crashed out to Barcelona while Real Madrid beat Atlético Madrid after extra time.

Before that, Real Sociedad had won nine consecutive matches and have soared to third place in LaLiga with a seven-point lead over Atlético. That means that they will certainly not be pushovers for Real Madrid, who will be playing their first LaLiga match on home turf since 10th November.

Five of Real Madrid’s last six matches have seen both teams on the scoresheet, keeping only one clean sheet away against Real Sociedad’s Basque neighbours Athletic Club. Injuries have deprived them of Dani Carvajal, David Alaba and Aurelién Tchouaméni and, while Alaba and Tchouaméni might return, they have not played in at least a month and Ferland Mendy, the only left-back in the squad, has since joined the injury list.

Real Sociedad have kept clean sheets in four of their last six games, but doing so at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu is an entirely different challenge. Real Madrid have not failed to score at home all season, and it seems unlikely that they will fail to do so now after a three-game spell in which they’ve averaged 2.67 goals per match. The Basque side have also averaged over two goals per game since the World Cup came to an end and, with Mikel Oyarzabal back in action, they’ll be hoping to see more goals.

This Sunday night billing is for a huge game which looks bound to entertain. Six of the last eight clashes between these two teams have seen both teams score and it seems a strong bet for that to continue.