As we all might have expected, last week, Les Parisiens dominated their friendly versus Ligue 2 side Paris FC with 10 efforts on target, 65% of the ball and nearly twice as many passes as their opponents (569-301).
While manager Christophe Galtier did not have a full squad to choose from with Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe still competing at the World Cup, the pause to the campaign has allowed the Marseille-born coach to give his bench players more game time and bring in some of their rising youngsters.
Even without those two stars and Neymar, PSG scored multiple goals in a game last Friday for a seventh successive encounter in all competitions.
There is no denying the individual attacking quality they possess, though this team have looked sharp and organised along the backline lately, conceding a goal or fewer in their previous five matches in all competitions.
Wednesday will be the third time they face a second-tier French side this season, with the reigning Ligue 1 champions outscoring their opponents in the previous two friendlies 4-1, defeating Quevilly 2-0 in July.
You have to go back to February for the last time this team lost a match of any sort, falling 3-1 and exiting from the Champions League knockout stage versus Real Madrid, which was also the last time they went on to lose a game when leading at the half.
Fabien Mercadal’s men have six draws so far in Ligue 2, despite being in a winning position in three of those games, as those six points dropped could have them up to fifth in the table and within four points off Bordeaux for a promotion into the top flight.
Indeed, Quevilly have missed numerous opportunities to move up the table during this campaign, conceding three second-half goals in their last three domestic affairs.
After going winless in their first four away games of the domestic campaign, they have improved on the road, currently unbeaten in their last five league contests outside Quevilly, posting three clean sheets over that stretch.
Even though this team have failed to seize moments in several matches this season, they are still in a better position than we saw in 2021-22, with 18 points after 15 domestic encounters, one more point than they had at this stage of their previous campaign.
Given that this small club was on the cusp of relegation from the Championnat National in 2019-20, they have grown tremendously since then and have shown they can compete against some of the experienced sides in Ligue 2
