Only 32 teams remain in this year’s Coupe de France competition – actually 31 at time of release following Saint-Malo’s victory on Saturday. Both Granville and Sarreguemines are the lowest-ranked teams left in the competition, they play on Saturday. Tuesday starts with 17 Ligue 1 clubs remaining – four will definitely be eliminated – we can only hope for more shocks.

Stade Rennais v Bourg-en-Bresse: Tuesday 17:00 – @rich_allen85

Rennes take on Ligue 2 entertainers Bourg en Bresse at Roazhon Park on Tuesday evening. The second division side have scored 33 and conceded 37 in the league so far this season so if one thing seems guaranteed it’s goalmouth action.

Bourg have not made easy work of their previous games with narrow wins over minnows SC Berre and US Montelimar followed up by a 3-1 win over Mulhouse. They aren’t in the greatest of form in the league either with just one win in four games. Twelve goals across those four games just emphasises their erraticism. Forwards Pape Sane and Lakdar Boussaha on the main providers of goals but to be honest with Bourg, they can all contribute. Alliou Dembele and Jason Berthomier are the danger men in midfield as they look to launch the attacks and find the prolific forwards.

Rennes will build on Saturday’ win away to Troyes. They didn’t make it easy for themselves against the Ligue 1 basement side as they quickly went 2-0 down. It took that shock to make them click with youngster Ousmane Dembele once again looking like he’s a player destined for bigger things. An excellent goal and the winning of a penalty just his latest contribution to the side. With Paul-Georges Ntep making his return from injury and Kamil Grosicki in good goalscoring form, Rennes now possess numerous attacking options. It’s their defence that always gives cause for concern. Sylvain Armand at times looks every one of his 35 years, Fallou Diagne, despite his penalty scoring antics often gets caught out of position and in the absence of Romain Danze, the full backs don’t always look convincing in defence.

There’s no doubt this should be an entertaining game and it will be difficult to pick a winner due to both teams unpredictable nature. It could finish 3-0 to Rennes, 3-0 to Bourg or 3-3! Logic would tell you to plump for the side in the higher division but it could be far from easy night for Rennes.

 

Gazelec vs EA Guingamp: Tuesday 17:00 – @PeteSharland

Whilst Angers, Nice and Caen will rightly get plenty of headline this season for their exploits towards the Ligue 1 table there’s a case to be made that plucky little Gazelec are the story of the season.

They have by some distance the smallest budget in the division yet somehow they’re up in the lofty heights of 13^th, a truly remarkable achievement. In their first ten games of the season they drew three, losing the other seven. Relegation looked nailed on as the club demonstrated exactly the sort of form people were predicting, no-one saw what was coming next though.

In the last 11 matches Gazelec have won six and drawn five, they haven’t lost in the league since a 2-0 defeat away at Saint-Etienne three months ago. It’s a brilliant story and coach Thierry Laurey deserves so much credit, as do Gazelec for sticking with him when times were tough.

Ironically the last time they lost in all competitions was back in November when Guingamp knocked them out of the Coupe de Ligue. Unfortunately for Jocelyn Gourvennec and his side they haven’t won a Ligue 1 game since that match, actually losing the following five after that. Last week they were knocked out of the Coupe de Ligue on penalties against Lille and on the weekend they let a two goal lead slip in a Breton derby with Nantes.

This is a good time to play Guingamp and Gazelec will be feeling confident of getting a win and getting through to the next round. Guingamp have some very experienced forwards in the shape of Jimmy Briand, Mevlut Erding and Slovan Privat but even still it’s hard to see them leaving Corsica and still being in the cup.

 

SCO Angers vs Girondins de Bordeaux: Tuesday 17:30 – @PeteSharland

When you’re a small side doing well teams will start to sniff around your best players and that is exactly what happened to Angers with Abdoul Camara and more importantly Ludovic Butelle leaving at the start of the January window. Alexandre Letellier stepped in for the first Ligue 1 game of 2016 and managed to keep a clean sheet in a 2-0 win over Caen.

Things were brought down to earth with a bit of bump on the weekend as two Hatem Ben Arfa penalties saw Angers lose 2-1 to Nice but the fact they’re still in the Champions League places is just ridiculous. Honestly it makes Leicester’s achievements look mundane, the Foxes could probably afford to buy the whole set-up at Angers, players, staff, ground the lot.

Stephane Moulin will probably actually want a win here rather than to rest his players. They know that it’s unlikely that they’ll be able to finish in the European places so why not enjoy the ride and see if you can get a cup quarter-final, or perhaps even more. As ever for Angers the key man will be captain Cheick N’Doye, and it is crucial they keep him in his window.

Bordeaux are unbeaten in all competitions since the start of December and there’s just the slightest hint of a sign that they could be ready for a push at a European place. 2016 has started with two 1-0 victories in the league, both courtesy of goals from Cheick Diabate. They’re also through to the semi-finals of the Coupe de Ligue where they’ll be confident of beating Lille, these are good times for Willy Sagnol’s men.

Given the saturated nature of Ligue 1 (3rd and 15^th are separated by just nine points) Bordeaux will know it’s just as likely they’ll finish 4^th as they will 12^th. The best way to secure European football next season could be via the cups so they’ll be taking this very seriously. In this fixture last month in the league a late Romain Thomas goal rescued a draw from Angers but with their forward players in good form Bordeaux will be feeling confident.US Sarre Union v Chamois Niortais: Tuesday 18:00 – @Gibney_A

 

US Sarre Union v Chamois Niortais: Tuesday 18:00 – @Gibney_A

Although down in the bottom reaches of the fourth division, Sarre Union are not to be underestimated as far as Chamois Niortais are concerned.

Eric Becker’s side lost against JA Drancy last weekend and in their last league meeting against Olympique Lyonnais’ second team. However, their last two wins have both come in the cup, a 6-1 victory over Schirrhein, followed by the 2-1 success against Villefranche in the last round.

Adel Benchenane and Yann Benedick gave the amateurs a 2-0 half-time lead, an own goal from Thomas Zerbini gave the home side a chance, but Sarre Union kept their head and sealed their place in the last 32 for the first time in their history.

Their opponents, Niort, are in a great run of form at the moment. Regis Brouard’s side are unbeaten in six games going into Tuesday’s clash, but they take on the unusual position as favourites. Jimmy Roye’s 45th minute penalty gave them a 2-1 win over Moulin in the last round.

In 1991 Niort reached the quarter-finals of this competition; since then they have been knocked out at this stage six times. This is their fourth year in a row that they play the Coupe as a Ligue 2 club; they will be hoping for their best result yet, and if you follow the football tips today, this is their best chance yet.

 

SC Bastia v FC Sochaux: Tuesday 18:00 – @FRfootballWillG

After finishing 12th last season Bastia have continued in much the same form this year, and with 25 points leaving them in 15th place they will be confident that, come the end of the season, they will have more than three other teams in the league. A cup run is something that they will likely relish then, with little prospect of climbing much higher in the league and given they have been handed a relatively nice home draw. One-time Premier League “superstars” Sebastien Squillaci and Florian Marange are set to feature in a defence that will be hoping to keep Sochaux’s rather modest attacking options at bay. Like many teams in France, goalscorers are in short supply for Bastia, with their most prolific player being winger Floyd Ayite who has just four from midfield and 35-year-old Brazilian Brandao registering just one. A tight game can be expected here though the Ligue 1 side will be confident of progressing.

Sochaux will be less bothered about the victory here after a 3-2 home reverse to an average Niort side at the weekend plunged them into the bottom three. After a brief period of respite and solidity when Albert Cartier took over, Sochaux have struggled for consistency. Like Bastia they are lacking a goalscorer and with once hotly rated striker Karl Toko Ekambi in poor form they have often been disjointed this season. Sochaux’s success this campaign has come in the blooding of youngsters Jerome Onguene (named player of the season so far) and Jerome Fuchs. Both only 18 years old, the defender and midfielder respectively have made themselves important parts of the XI, with the former predicted to go on to better things in the not too distant future. With a crucial league game against Paris FC coming up on Friday however, Cartier is likely to rotate here as relegation to the National is totally unthinkable for a club of their size.

 

Paris Saint-Germain v Toulouse FC: Tuesday 20:00 – @Gibney_A

No one expected Toulouse to beat PSG on Saturday afternoon, but Le Téfécé put up a respectable fight and only succumbed to Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s 73rd minute goal. Dominique Arribage’s side have the power to make or break the success of the Parisians this season.

After Saturday’s match, Tuesday’s meeting in the cup comes before the end of the trilogy in the Coupe de la Ligue semi-final. With PSG still unbeaten domestically, if TFC can pick up one victory over the champions, it would end their local dominance.

After squeaking past ES Wasquehal in the last round, Laurent Blanc will hope his team can show more against the fellow Ligue 1 side. PSG are without Marquinhos and Javier Pastore for the clash; if Thiago Silva doesn’t recover from his knee injury in time, it could open a window for Wissam Ben Yedder to exploit.

The 25-year-old scored once, with Martin Braithwaite adding two, in their 5-0 win over Sannois-Saint-Gratien in the last round. Their defeat to PSG was their first in seven games, putting a small roadbump in their recent form – this will be a huge opportunity for the relegation strugglers to cause an upset.