AC Ajaccio 0 - 0 Guingamp

AC Ajaccio v Guingamp: Preview

Updated: April 30, 2004, 12:25 PM UK

AJACCIO, April 30 (Ligue 1) - Guingamp will be eager to claim maximum points and save their season now that they know coach Bertrand Marchand has put pen-to paper to a two-year contract extension with the Breton side.

Marchand, who is now linked until June 2006, helped his side escape the relegation zone in February but the club is still languishing in the lower part of the table - they are 15th and three points from relegation - and survival is not yet secured.

Guingamp have five matches left to save their season - matches against Ajaccio, Le Mans, Nantes, Nice and Marseille.

On Saturday against Ajaccio, Guingamp will face a must-win clash against a team equally eager to survive in the top flight next year as they are stuck in the bottom three and four points worse off than their visitors from Brittany.

"For me it's clear, we are going to remain in the Ligue 1 next year,'' said Guingamp's Serbo-Montenegrin international defender Nisa Saveljic, who will be suspended for the match.

"We have already managed to survive difficult times in the first half of the championship.

"We are not safe yet but it's not over. We are confident we can make it.

"We just have to avoid individual mistakes. The problem is not our motivation but pressure.

"The team has experience but we also have young players. And on Saturday this is going to be a most important match for us.''

Marchand will be without the banned Saveljic who will be replaced by Milovan Sikimic.

Striker Oumar Tchomogo is also out with a hip problem.

Ajaccio coach Dominique Bijotat will welcome back striker Yassine Bezzaz after a five-month absence due to injury.

However, forward Dalibor Mitrovic (leg) and defender Christophe Destruhaut (knee) will miss out while midfielder Nicolas Bonnal and David Terrier are both suspended.