Will Serif Nhaga and Warren Zaire-Emery start against Troyes?

Warren Zaire-Emery, PSG
Warren Zaire-Emery, PSG / Quality Sport Images/GettyImages
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PSG will return to action on Sunday and they will do so by visiting Troyes as part of MD34 of Ligue 1 following their sound defeat to Lorient (1-3) at the Parc des Princes last weekend.

After the craziest week (which is to say something...) of the season for PSG and the lads inhabiting Paris, Christophe Galtier and his pupils will have to put on the proper work to win a game and start to put an end to the title race, one that has heated up of late with Marseille just five points behind PSG in the table with five games on the schedule.

Without Achraf Hakimi (suspended) nor Nuno Mendes (injured) available this Sunday, there is a chance the young Serif Nhaga could make his first appearance with PSG after getting called up from the U17 team to cover for those two absentees.

Truth be told, it would be a real surprise and an incredible moment for the young defender. While he probably wasn't expecting this opportunity to arrive this late in the season, injuries have opened the door for him, and with only Juan Bernat available to play in one of the two wing-back roles, Nhaga could very well be placed on the opposite side of the pitch, writes L'Equipe.

The young 17-year-old Portuguese left-back, recruited from Porto this season, has been training with the first team for the past few days in order to acclimate himself with the main squad of PSG. Of course, Bernat will be the main player for PSG at the left wing-back position when available considering his experience, but Nhaga might still find his way to the XI at some point during the final five games.

For the right side of the defensive line, though, Galtier will need to tinker a little bit more than he'd probably like as there are no natural replacements for Achraf Hakimi unless Timothee Pembele is available and fit enough to play. He should have enough to start and play at least a good portion of Sunday's game, but that's still unknown.

In case Pembele can't start, then one option Galtier might think about using from the get-go is youngster Warren Zaire-Emery, who already played on the right side of a three-man defensive line in the Champions League a few weeks ago. That's hardly optimal, but it's not that Galtier and PSG have a plethora of alternatives to choose from.

Hugo Ekitike is expected to start as the leading man of the forward line, although he hasn't done so since mid-February in PSG's loss at Monaco back then when they started to string a never-ending set of bad performances.

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Danilo might also miss Sunday's matchup due to some fitness problems affecting his ankle, although as of Saturday morning, he's still penciled into the predicted started XI of PSG for their game against Troyes on the road.