Aiming to avoid a sixth game without victory in Ligue 1, Montpellier HSC host Lens at the Stade de la Mosson on Friday evening.
La Paillade were bested 2-0 by Monaco in the most recent round of fixtures, while Franck Haise's troops prolonged Lyon's misery in a thrilling 3-2 home success.
Since cruising past Toulouse 3-0 at the end of October, Montpellier have only accrued two points from a possible 15 in their five Ligue 1 fixtures since, and Der Zakarian's 10 men were no match for Monaco during their futile trip to the Stade Louis II on Sunday.
Montpellier's backline was breached by Takumi Minamino with just seven minutes on the board, and a straight red card to Kiki Kouyate extinguished any hopes of a Paillade comeback before Wissam Ben Yedder put the icing on the cake in second-half stoppage time.
A touchline ban meant that Der Zakarian was unable to oversee operations from the dugout at the weekend, but he will return to his rightful place on the turf as Montpellier sleepwalk towards danger, currently 13th in the rankings and only three points clear of Clermont in the automatic relegation zone.
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