Third place Lille is behind Lens on goals scored and hosts Saint-Etienne on Sunday. It is undefeated in nine league games and beat AC Milan 2-0 on Wednesday to qualify from the first round of the Champions League.
Replacement goalkeeper Gregory Malicki, a key figure against Milan, will again replace Tony Sylva, who broke a finger last weekend against Nancy and is out until the end of January. However, Saint-Etienne is two points back and could leap three places to second spot if it wins on Sunday.
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Peter Odemwingie and Abdul Kater Keita both scored Wednesday to help Lille beat an under strength AC Milan 2-0 and advance to the last 16 of the Champions League.
Odemwingie scored in the seventh minute from close range, after Milan goalkeeper Zeljko Kalac parried Mathieu Bodmer's shot. Keita added the second in the 67th minute following a sublime exchange of passes with Bodmer.
Lille finished second in Group H with nine points, one ahead of AEK Athens, which drew 2-2 with Anderlecht. AC Milan won the group with 10 points.
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"We may have won the group but losing in this manner is unacceptable," Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti said. "We have to be angry with ourselves. It hurts to lose at home and we didn't play well."
Odemwingie tormented Milan's defense, which was weakened by the absence of five players through injury – including Cafu and Alessandro Nesta – and had three shots saved by Kalac. Kalac, who was Milan's best player, also tipped a free kick by Bodmer over the bar in the 41st and saved a long range effort from midfielder Yohan Cabaye in the 74th.
Yoann Gourcuff had Milan's best chance in the first half. The French midfielder dribbled past Lille's defense in the 38th minute but then lost control of the ball in the penalty area.
Following a lackluster first-half display, Ancelotti bolstered the midfield, introducing Clarence Seedorf for Cristian Brocchi in the 46th and Kaka for Massimo Ambrosini in the 53rd.
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The changes lifted the six time European champions and Filippo Inzaghi was unlucky not to score his 40th Champions League goal in the 60th his goal mouth header hit the crossbar. Milan was also missing goalkeeper Dida and midfielder Gennaro Gattuso through injury. Ancelotti rested Captain Paolo Maldini.
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