Evian Thonon Gaillard vs Nice preview - Bruno calls for focus

Belgian striker Gianni Bruno says Evian need to show a strong mentality to climb off the bottom of the Ligue 1 table.

Evian have lost their last last three league games, failing to score in the process, and Bruno accepts the importance of the visit of mid-table Nice to Parc des Sports on Saturday night.

"We want to show another face and we need points," Bruno told the official Evian club website after successive losses to Monaco, Nantes and Montpellier.

"This is a crucial match and it comes against a good Nice team who have good players.

"We have to be very focused and strong and show the right state of mind.

"We need to play for each other, put pressure on them from the beginning and not let go."

The 23-year-old Bruno has scored only once in 12 appearances since joining from Lille last summer, in Evian's last victory at home to Metz on October 4, but he believes he is finally finding his feet at the club.

"I struggled to adapt but now it goes well with the group," he said.

"It is certain that my stats do not speak on my behalf but physically I feel better and the goals will come.

"Last season also I did not score much in the first half of the season and then it was much better."

Veteran central defender Gael Givet has left Evian since last weekend's 2-0 defeat at Montpellier and is now a free agent.

Nice have lost their last two home games in the league but they have been in good form on the road, thrashing Guingamp 7-2 in their last away fixture and winning 1-0 at Monaco before that.

"Our strikers are in form and we are playing much better than last season," midfielder Papy Mendy said on the club's official website.

Nice coach Claude Puel said he feels his side continue to go in the right direction despite successive home defeats to Lyon and Bastia.

"Last season we were strong but we were poorly rewarded," Puel told the Nice club website.

"I was waiting for my players to show more confidence in their abilities and now we have more players with different characteristics, better able to fill the spaces. "