Bastia vs Stade Rennais FC preview - Montanier wary of basement boys

Rennes coach Philippe Montanier admits a trip to face Bastia in front of their vociferous fans is hardly the ideal place for his side to try to recover their excellent recent form.

The Breton club had been on a nine-game unbeaten run in all competitions prior to hosting Montpellier last weekend, but were hammered 4-0 on their own turf.

Facing the bottom club in Ligue 1 might on the face of it seem like a good chance to get back to winning ways, but Montanier is under no illusions how testing the trip to Corsica could be.

He told his club's official website: "The Stade Armand Cesari is not the best place to be going to revive ourselves.

"Bastia area a good team. Against St Etienne (last weekend) for example, they did not deserve to lose. When you are bottom of the table, things do not go in your favour. In every game they have been on par and inevitably one day it will run for them. Just not on Saturday, we hope."

Bastia are 20th, with three wins from 17 games so far. They are the lowest goalscorers in the league with 13 and have lost their last three league matches in a row.

Rennes still sit sixth despite the setback against Montpellier, three points behind Bordeaux.

Of the defeat to Montpellier, Montanier added: "It was a good slap, but we are not too worried. When you lose one game out of 10, it does not call everything into question. I hope that we will tighten the bolts on Saturday."

Christopher Maboulou, Floyd Ayite (thigh), El Hadji Ba (fibula) and Juan Pablo Pino (groin) are on the injured list for Bastia.