Three more names on the list
Paris Saint-Germain go to Le Havre on Friday at 19:00 Paris time for the opening game of Ligue 1’s ninth round, and the medical bulletin is a long one. Marquinhos, Nuno Mendes and Ousmane Dembélé are out for several weeks. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is gone for months after knee surgery earlier this week. Mika Godts missed training for a happier reason, since he is about to become a father, and Lucas Beraldo got a guard of honour from his team-mates after the birth of his child.
Luis Enrique did not sound alarmed in his pre-match press conference. “We have the same absentees as last week,” he said, adding that the squad needs every player to be ready when called upon.
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“We are where we want to be”
PSG returned to the top of the table on Monday with a 2-0 win over Lyon, in a game moved back a day because of the social unrest in France. Rennes, the nearest chaser, visit Nice at the same hour on Friday, so a win in Normandy would stretch the gap.
The coach rejected any sense of comfort. “We are where we want to be. But it is only just starting,” he said, and warned that Le Havre away has been tricky every time. The team in last place, he said, is one of the sides in the league that crosses the ball the most, with a target man up front and wing-backs who cause problems.
Injuries, Digne and Doué
Asked about the injury run, he described it as a major topic for his staff for years. Some players are simply more injury-prone than others, he explained, and the aim is to tune training loads to keep the number down. He also said the club is working to shorten Lucas Digne’s adaptation time, and praised Désiré Doué’s work rate while noting that the hardest thing for a 21-year-old of his quality is handling the noise around him.
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