Paris Saint-Germain's season is fast descending into crisis and Saturday's trip to OGC Nice in Ligue 1 is expected to be the first of two decisive games for the French champions' head coach, Christophe Galtier. Avoid consecutive defeats in Nice and then at home to RC Lens and the French tactician should be safe in his job until the end of the season and logically so should Les Parisiens' title hopes. Drop more than four points, though, and Galtier could be out with PSG scrapping to even salvage a record 11th Championnat crown. Kylian Mbappe taking aim at the club did not help matters building up this game and a loss to Didier Digard's men at Allianz Riviera would pump up the pressure ahead of that crunch meeting with Lens. Nice are 14 games unbeaten under Digard so this will not be easy at all for the capital side.
"There was a debrief about the performance against Lyon," admitted Galtier pre-game on Friday. "I spoke to the group and told them that they had to show something different. The performance in the last match was not at all good enough. Afterwards, we had a week where everyone trained. I had the impression that everyone was committed to preparing for this match in Nice. We've prepared well for this trip. I asked my players to show more commitment and personality. We must also be more respectful of the instructions and the game plan, we were lacking in these points. We must find a more coherent game. When you're at Paris Saint-Germain and you want to perform well in every game, you have to have pride and react. We know that we are capable of performing well.
"The President came to see us and spoke in the dressing room this morning," added the French tactician. "I think it was important that he was there and he was. Obviously, I have my share of responsibility as does the whole team. We are all aware of this. Once that has been said, what do we do? Do we carry on like this or do we react? I am obviously aware of the President's speech. His speech shows that we cannot continue like this. It was a clear and precise speech, aimed at everyone.
"There is a lot at stake for the club in winning its eleventh league title. The first thing is to stay focused on the job. We must have the right analysis during this bad period. We have to work and find solutions. We must not just blame one area, when we win then the victory belongs to everyone so it's the same when we lose. It is my job to make people aware of this. There is a lot of pressure from the competitors and we are not as far ahead as we have been in the past. We can't relax and I'll say it again, we need to have a big reaction in the games coming up.
Here's our storylines, how you can watch the match and more:
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How to watch and odds
- Date: Saturday, Apr. 8 | Time: 3 p.m. ET
- Location: Allianz Riviera -- Nice, France
- TV: beIN Sports USA | Live stream: fuboTV (try for free)
- Odds: Nice +280; Draw: +290; PSG -118 (via Caesars Sportsbook)
Team news
Nice: Youcef Atal and Sofiane Diop are both out injured while Hicham Boudaoui was hurt over the international period and Jordan Lotomba is expected to be out until later this season. Terem Moffi has been in strong form up top since joining from Lorient in January and the Nigeria international will look to do further damage here.
"Nice are the last French team still in Europe," said Galtier of his former club. "They are a team that has not been beaten since Didier Digard was appointed as manager. They are a team with a lot of certainties and players with a lot of confidence. As always there, there will be a great atmosphere but we have to be much better than in the last few games with much more effort and initiative. We have conceded too many goals in the last few games, and they are a great team in transition so we'll need to be careful. Their squad had a lot of new players at the beginning of the season, with a lot of new signings. It took some time for everyone to adapt. Today, they are a very compact team that defends as one. We also saw that they have quality up front, I think of Terem Moffi who arrived this winter or Nicolas Pepe who is back in form. With Gaetan Laborde, they have a very interesting attacking trio. They're a very homogeneous team."
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PSG: Marco Verratti is out after being forced off during the loss to Olympique Lyonnais last week while Neymar and Presnel Kimpembe will not return this season. Juan Bernat is also missing with an ankle issue confirmed by his absence from the PSG traveling squad. Sergio Ramos and Nordi Mukiele are expected to miss out once again while Carlos Soler is also struggling. Marquinhos returned from injury against Lyon and should be fine to continue here.
Prediction
This one could be really trick for PSG and anything more than a point against an unbeaten Nice side should be considered a decent result all things considered. Galtier will be hoping that it is not a miserable return to his former club having left them for Paris last summer. Pick: Nice 1, PSG 1.
