RC Lens manager Franck Haise will have to do without Florian Sotoca and Deiver Machado on Friday night when his side face Montpellier HSC.
Sotoca was sent off in the dying seconds of the 3-2 victory over Olympique Lyonnais last weekend and will therefore be suspended for the tie. There is a good chance that Haise would have chosen to rest the attacker with a Champions League encounter against Sevilla coming up on Tuesday.
There is expected to be some rotation in midfield. Andy Diouf and Salis Abdul Samed are set to start from the bench with Nampalys Mendy and Neil El Aynaoui set to get the nod. Lens will also be without Deiver Machado as they look to extend their unbeaten run. The Colombian international is a more long-term absentee. He will undergo surgery on an adductor injury and he is expected to be out for around two months.
Lens likely lineup v Montpellier
Brice Samba’ Facundo Medina, Kevin Danso, Jonathan Gradit; Przemyslaw Frankowski, Neil El Aynaoui, Nampalys Mendy, Ruben Aguilar; Angelo Fulgini, Adrien Thomasson; Elye Wahi. (L’Éq)
