Lille have won six of their last seven Ligue 1 games to rise to a season-high position of fifth in the table at the start of a Week 31 that sees them host Lorient on Sunday evening.
LOSC were 2-1 winners at Brest in Week 30 with Nolan Roux coming off the bench to net the decisive goal against his former club, his eighth of the season. The one reverse in LOSC's impressive run was a shock 2-1 home loss to Evian in Week 29, only Lille's third home defeat in their last 21 matches.
LOSC began Week 31 a point behind fourth-placed Saint-Etienne and four points behind Olympique Lyonnais. The 2011 double winners are handily placed for a challenge for a Europa League or Champions League berth should they manage to sustain their current impressive run. Coach Rudi Garcia said: "The result brings us back to within a point of fourth place. We controlled the game and scored a well-constructed second goal. The difference, like against Valenciennes, was made by our subs and it's good for Nolan. He added something, whether it was in terms of flick-ons, back to goal or with his finishing. Our objective is to qualify for Europe and get involved in the final sprint. We have to be able to make the most of hosting Lorient and Marseille in order to qualify for Europe as for the moment we're not in a European position."
Kalou: 'Coach backed me'
At Brest, Salomon Kalou cancelled out Florian Raspentino's opener later with his fourth Ligue 1 goal in seven games since being moved to centre-forward for the 3-1 win at Olympique Lyonnais in Week 24. This week the Ivorian international explained why he was so determined to make a success of his move from Chelsea: "In January, I received a lot of calls from so-called agents! At the same time, the coach gave me his backing and that was essential. My objective is to run the course with him and I didn't want to fail here. Rumours are part of football and that's not pleasant. I said to myself that if I had to go then I wanted to depart having made a good impression here."
LOSC are still without captain Rio Mavuba, who is expected back at the end of April after knee surgery. Mavuba has been impressed with his colleagues of late: "The lads have done the job. People might have thought we'd finish in mid-table but we pulled ourselves together. Our ambition is to qualify for Europe and catch Saint-Etienne as a first objective. Of course, if there's the possibility of finishing in the top three then we won't deprive ourselves of that."
At Brest, Salomon Kalou cancelled out Florian Raspentino's opener later with his fourth Ligue 1 goal in seven games since being moved to centre-forward for the 3-1 win at Olympique Lyonnais in Week 24. This week the Ivorian international explained why he was so determined to make a success of his move from Chelsea: "In January, I received a lot of calls from so-called agents! At the same time, the coach gave me his backing and that was essential. My objective is to run the course with him and I didn't want to fail here. Rumours are part of football and that's not pleasant. I said to myself that if I had to go then I wanted to depart having made a good impression here."
LOSC are still without captain Rio Mavuba, who is expected back at the end of April after knee surgery. Mavuba has been impressed with his colleagues of late: "The lads have done the job. People might have thought we'd finish in mid-table but we pulled ourselves together. Our ambition is to qualify for Europe and catch Saint-Etienne as a first objective. Of course, if there's the possibility of finishing in the top three then we won't deprive ourselves of that."
Poor away form
Last season's meeting between the two clubs in northern France finished 1-1 but when the clubs met in Week 16 the previous season Lille ran out 6-3 victors with Moussa Sow scoring a hat-trick. Lorient, eighth in the table at the start of the weekend, were left frustrated in Week 30 as Ludovic Obraniak struck late on for Bordeaux to cancel out Jérémie Aliadière's opener and extend Christian Gourcuff's side's winless streak on the road to six games (2D, 4L).
Maxime Barthelmé, who set up Aliadière's 12th Ligue 1 goal of the season, said: "We should have held on to our advantage and I think we lacked intensity and professionalism. We needed to stay focused. We need to correct what went wrong in the future. We've got a lot of players coming back into the squad and that's good. It will allow us to finish the season strongly and get a good finishing position.
"Lille will be a difficult game for us as they're a tough team to play against with very good players. They're on a good run. I think we have the assets to put them in difficulty. Our objective is to finish as high in the table as possible and why not qualify for Europe. We have to see what position we are in in the table when we enter the final month of the season."
Last season's meeting between the two clubs in northern France finished 1-1 but when the clubs met in Week 16 the previous season Lille ran out 6-3 victors with Moussa Sow scoring a hat-trick. Lorient, eighth in the table at the start of the weekend, were left frustrated in Week 30 as Ludovic Obraniak struck late on for Bordeaux to cancel out Jérémie Aliadière's opener and extend Christian Gourcuff's side's winless streak on the road to six games (2D, 4L).
Maxime Barthelmé, who set up Aliadière's 12th Ligue 1 goal of the season, said: "We should have held on to our advantage and I think we lacked intensity and professionalism. We needed to stay focused. We need to correct what went wrong in the future. We've got a lot of players coming back into the squad and that's good. It will allow us to finish the season strongly and get a good finishing position.
"Lille will be a difficult game for us as they're a tough team to play against with very good players. They're on a good run. I think we have the assets to put them in difficulty. Our objective is to finish as high in the table as possible and why not qualify for Europe. We have to see what position we are in in the table when we enter the final month of the season."