Ligue 1

Paris Saint-Germain v Toulouse: Coupe de la Ligue final berth up for grabs

Paris Saint-Germain will be hoping to book a place in the Coupe de la Ligue final by beating Toulouse for the third time in 12 days when they meet at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday.

Laurent Blanc’s side followed up a 1-0 win at Toulouse in their Ligue 1 encounter on January 16 by eliminating the Dominique Arribage’s side from the Coupe de France last Tuesday.

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PSG fell behind to Francois Moubandje’s opener but, after David Luiz’s equaliser, Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored from the penalty spot with one minute of normal time remaining to ensure progression.

After a sensational 5-1 victory against Angers on Saturday made it 11 consecutive wins in all competitions for PSG, Blaise Matuidi is hopeful they can maintain their form as they look to set a new club record with another triumph.

“We played very well and scored a lot of goals, which bodes well for the future. Now we have to go on with it,” he said.

“I am very happy to have provided three assists. I’m surrounded by great players and obviously that makes me look good.”

Victory would also put PSG a step closer to the successful defence of their cup crown, with Bordeaux and Lille potential opponents in the final.

Toulouse – looking to reach the final of the competition for the first time – will need to quickly recover from a 4-0 defeat at Monaco on Sunday if they are to stop Blanc’s team doing just that.

A third successive loss left Arribage concerned his side could be in danger of slipping into a run of form similar to that which they endured at the start of the campaign, when they suffered a 13-game winless run in Ligue 1 – including a 5-0 loss at PSG – after winning on the opening day.

“We just didn’t turn up. It is a performance to forget. I am angry and a bit surprised,” he said.

“We had made good progress all over the field in recent months and I thought that would protect us from a result like this. It feels like going back to October when things were not going well. ”

Blanc still has a number of injuries to contest with as Thiago Silva (knee), Marco Verratti (hip), Javier Pastore (calf), Marquinhos (groin) and Salvatore Sirigu (groin) were all absent for the defeat of Angers.

Should neither of PSG’s Brazilian centre-backs be risked, Serge Aurier could be selected again.

Toulouse will be without Jean-Armel Kana-Biyik (hamstring) and Zinedine Machach (shoulder).

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