Lille will be hoping to make the most of home advantage on Tuesday and pile more pressure on Inter Milan in their Champions League clash.
Ranieri under pressure ahead of French tussle
Lille will be hoping to make the most of home advantage on Tuesday and pile more pressure on Inter Milan in their UEFA Champions League clash.
Claudio Ranieri's position as Inter boss has come under scrutiny following the club's worst start to a Serie A season in 28 years, while the Nerazzurri also lost at home to Trabzonspor in their opening Group B game.
The Italians did at least bounce back with a 3-2 victory over CSKA Moscow in the Russian capital, to move into second place and one point behind Trabzonspor.
French champions Lille are back in third after drawing their opening two games, and will be determined to claim a first victory.
Inter news
Ranieri has called on his players to remain focused after losing four of their opening six league games in Italy.
"We have to remain united and continue to work hard," said Ranieri, whose side finished the weekend eight points behind league leaders Juventus after going down 2-1 at Catania on Saturday.
He continued on Inter's
official website: "No-one is happy and we must react to come out of this situation.
"Although we have to take it one step at a time, we need to hurry up and start to get things right.
"My players are disappointed and unhappy, as am I. But we have to remain focused and be ready because we face a very difficult game at Lille."
To complicate matters for Ranieri, he will be without injured defender Walter Samuel, who sustained a thigh strain at the weekend.
However, Inter will be bolstered by the return of Julio Cesar, Cristian Chivu, Joel Obi and Wesley Sneijder.
All four players missed the clash at Catania through either injury or suspension but all are expected to start.
Lille news
In contrast to Inter, Lille won 3-1 at Auxerre on Saturday to extend their unbeaten run in Ligue 1 to eight games.
The result lifted Rudi Garcia's side to fourth in the standings, four points behind leaders Paris St Germain.
"We could not have asked for a better result at Auxerre in order to prepare for our game against Inter," Garcia told his club's
official website. "Auxerre had been playing well and had not lost at home this season until now.
"Our performance and the win has given my players confidence but it's also a great result for the team.
"We now hope to get our first victory in the Champions League this season."
Garcia has been boosted by the news that Ludovic Obraniak and Dmitri Payet returned from injury against Auxerre and Aurélien Chedjou was an unused substitute after a thigh problem.
Moussa Sow, who has had a toe injury, was also in the squad.
Eden Hazard is set to return to the starting XI, while Joe Cole will also be keen to feature against his former Chelsea boss Ranieri.
