St Etienne sporting director Damien Comolli insists his side must recreate the spirit they have had in Europe this season if they want to survive the drop into Ligue 2.

Les Verts were eliminated from the UEFA Cup at the last-16 stage on Wednesday, a 2-2 draw at home to Werder Bremen not enough to overturn the one-goal deficit they had from the first leg in Germany.

ASSE will take heart from their exploits in the UEFA Cup - they only lost one match in this season's competition - but it is back to the bread and butter of Ligue 1 survival now.

They head into Sunday's match at Lorient stuck in the relegation zone after just one win in their last five league matches, and Comolli wants to see his players reproduce their European form on the domestic stage before it is too late.

"Everyone is conscious of the difficult situation we find ourselves in," he said.

"To get out of this bad predicament, the players must have an all-conquering spirit and play the last 10 matches in the championship with the desire and graft that was our strong point on the European scene."

Lorient are not out of the woods yet when it comes to avoiding relegation.

The Brittany side ended a three-match losing streak with a draw at Nantes last weekend but they are without a win in 2009 and have tumbled down the standings.

They go into the weekend 12th in the table but could be a lot lower come kick-off, given that a host of teams below them play tonight.

Christophe Jallet is a doubt after hurting his calf in training and Rafik Bouderbal (thigh) is out, but key midfielder Fabrice Abriel has shrugged off an adductor problem and will start.

ASSE coach Alain Perrin will rejig his line-up, having played a number of fringe players against Bremen on Wednesday.