Ligue 1 Preview: Valenciennes v PSG

The champions have got their title defence off to an unbeaten start, having won three and drawn three of their opening six games, and moved up to second in the table with a 1-1 home draw with early pacesetters Monaco on Sunday.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic opened the scoring in that game with his second Ligue 1 goal of the campaign, and the Sweden international will have fond memories of the Stade du Hainaut, having hit a hat-trick in PSG's most recent trip there, which ended in a 4-0 success last December.

PSG have not lost to Valenciennes in their last eight Ligue 1 meetings, but had to rely on an 83rd-minute equaliser from Alex to earn a point the last time they played - a 1-1 draw at the Parc des Princes in May.

But former Chelsea defender Alex will miss this match against Daniel Sanchez's side with a thigh injury, while PSG boss Laurent Blanc will also be without captain Thiago Silva after he limped out of the Monaco clash with a hamstring problem.

That leaves Blanc with something of a shortage at centre-half, meaning veteran defender Zoumana Camara - who came on for Thiago Silva against Monaco - is in line to make his first start of the season.

However, having not lost in their last nine top-flight away games, PSG will be confident of having too much attacking quality for their hosts, who sit second bottom of the table.

Valenciennes go into the game low on confidence after a run of five successive Ligue 1 defeats - their most recent being last Sunday's 4-0 loss at Nice.

Sanchez's men got off to a flying start to the season with a 3-0 win over Toulouse on the opening day, but have failed to collect a single point since then.

Senegalese midfielder Abdou Camara and French forward Jean-Christophe Bahebeck are both still sidelined with thigh injuries, while Marco da Silva (knee) and Mody Traore (foot) will also miss the visit of the champions.