Evian vs Lille preview - Girard backs youngsters to shine

Rene Girard will continue to give youth a chance at Lille - as long as he feels they are ready for the challenge of first-team football.

Girard included seven players aged 22 or younger in his squad for last Saturday's encounter against Reims and reaped the rewards as the Great Danes won 3-1 to go eighth in Ligue 1.

Lille travel to Evian on Sunday looking for their fifth victory in six games and Girard could turn to his youngsters once again after singing their praises following last weekend's victory.

"If young people are there (in the team), it is because I think they can be," Girard told Lille's official website.

"It's good for the club to know that there are boys ready for the challenge.

"They exude happiness and it feels on the ground. Of course they are not perfect but it is encouraging."

Divock Origi, who is set to finally link up with Liverpool this summer when his season-long loan ends, missed a penalty against Reims but made up for it by scoring Lille's second to notch his ninth goal of the season.

Girard praised the 19-year-old Belgian for stepping up to take the spot-kick.

"It's always Divock that takes (the penalties) in general," Girard added. "You cannot blame him for taking the risk and blame him for having missed it.

"Sofiane (Boufal) is fouled in the area and it would have been difficult to take."

Lille are nine points behind fifth-placed St Etienne and, barring a spectacular collapse from Christophe Galtier's side, the 2010-11 Ligue 1 champions appear destined to miss out on European football for only the second time in seven seasons.

Evian, meanwhile, have won four of their last seven league matches but are still looking nervously over their shoulders as they are only three points clear of the bottom three.

Pascal Dupraz was frustrated to only draw at Nice last Saturday but is staying positive as the Ligue 1 season enters its final stages.

"We lost two points," Dupraz said of the 2-2 result at the Allianz Riviera on Evian's official website.

"(But) I remember the positives, even when there is a point which is important when you see the other results."