Lens vs Nice preview - Kombouare focused on Lens survival

Lens head coach Antoine Kombouare has urged his players to end the year on a high and tee themselves up for a survival push after Christmas.

A testing first half of the campaign for the northern side has left their top-flight status in peril, in line with many pre-season expectations from outside the club.

But Kombouare is confident Lens can stay up, while wary of the damage a defeat at this stage of the year can cause.

Lens limped to promotion last season, having been racing towards Ligue 1 until a pre-Christmas 2-1 loss to Istres knocked them sideways. They ultimately finished second, well behind champions Metz.

"I didn't like the end to last year," Kombouare said. "Since Monday, I haven't stopped telling my players that.

"Before playing Istres, we were unbeaten at home. And that defeat was catastrophic for us. We went away for the break with a defeat and we realised at the end of the season it was that which caused plenty of damage, because it was very difficult for us after that match."

Lens stand 19th in the 20-team top flight but could claw themselves out of the bottom three if all results go their way this weekend.

Looking ahead to tackling 11th-placed Nice, Kombouare added on his club's official website: "It will be a great match because we want to finish the year on a victory and to have 19 points at the break.

"That would allow us to be not too far cut off from the others and we could look forward to a second half of the season in a good situation."

Nice could easily find themselves dragged into the battle at the bottom, which is why their manager, Claude Puel, is demanding there is no easing off heading into the winter break.

Puel said on Nice's website: "Every day, we're careful that there is no letting up. We're making sure that the players stay very serious in their approach. They are aware of the importance of the match which is coming up."

Asked for his thoughts of Lens, Puel added: "Seeing that nobody expects anything of them, everything they achieve is just a bonus. They are a team with a freshness, a spontaneity, who have often deserved to win where they have lost or drawn."