Bordeaux and Newcastle contest top spot

FC Girondins de Bordeaux will look to hold on to top spot in UEFA Europa League Group D as Newcastle United FC aim to pip the French side at the post on matchday six.

Group D permutations
• Bordeaux are through and will win the group with a victory or a draw.

• Newcastle are through and will win the group if they beat Bordeaux.

• Club Brugge KV and CS Marítimo are out.

Previous meetings
• Newcastle won 3-0 when the sides met for the first time on matchday two. An early Shola Ameobi strike and an Henrique own goal in the first half were supplemented by Papiss Cissé's classy finish after the break as Newcastle became the first team to beat Francis Gillot's charges this term, handing Bordeaux a fifth straight defeat in England in the process.

• It was Newcastle's 100th UEFA club competition game.

• Bordeaux's record in nine games against English sides does not make happy reading: W0 D2 L7 (W0 D2 L2 at home – W0 D0 L5 in England, where they have yet to score). Their only previous home game against an English side in this competition ended in a 0-0 draw against Aston Villa FC in the first round of the 1997/98 UEFA Cup.

• Newcastle's 12 games against French opponents have ended W3 D4 L5 (W2 D2 L2 at home – W1 D2 L3 in France). Having failed to secure a win in their first five trips to France, they prevailed 4-0 at FC Sochaux-Montbéliard in their most recent visit, a UEFA Cup group stage game on 25 November 2004.

Match background
• The loss at Newcastle is Bordeaux's only European defeat in seven outings this season (W4 D2 L1).

• They have won all three of their home games this season, and have not conceded in the last two.

• Indeed, Bordeaux have won their last eight European home games on the bounce and are unbeaten in their last 11 (W9 D2) since a 3-1 loss to AS Roma in the UEFA Champions League group stage on 1 October 2008.

• Newcastle have drawn all three of their European away fixtures this season. Four games have passed (D3 L1) since their last European win on the road, 3-1 at SV Zulte Waregem in the 2006/07 UEFA Cup round of 32.

Team facts
• Newcastle midfielder Gabriel Obertan knows Bordeaux well: he started his professional career with the club, who picked him up from the French national academy at Clairefontaine. He made his league debut at 17 and scored three goals in 54 Ligue 1 games before moving to Manchester United FC in 2009.

• Other French-born Magpies include Yohan Cabaye, Hatem Ben Arfa, Romain Amalfitano, Demba Ba, Sylvain Marvaux and Mehdi Abeid, while Gaël Bigirimana, Papiss Cissé and Cheick Tioté are all French speakers.

• Cissé and Bordeaux midfielder Ludovic Obraniak were team-mates at FC Metz (2005-07), with the Polish international then playing alongside Cabaye at LOSC Lille (2007-11).

• Bordeaux right-back Matthieu Chalmé also played with Cabaye at Lille (2004-07).

• Bordeaux's David Bellion played for Newcastle's arch-rivals Sunderland AFC (2001-03), and also represented Manchester United (2003-06) and – on loan – West Ham United FC (2005-06). His club-mate Cédric Carrasso also spent a season on loan in England with Crystal Palace FC (2001/02), but the goalkeeper only played one match.

• Bordeaux coach Francis Gillot was a defender who spent the bulk of his playing career at RC Lens. He coached at the FC Sochaux-Montbéliard academy before returning to Lens to take joint-charge and then sole command of the first team in 2004. Subsequent spells with Sochaux and (since 2011) Bordeaux have cemented his reputation as a straight-talking coach with a penchant for attacking football.

• Newcastle manager Alan Pardew was the 2011/12 Premier League manager of the year, having established himself at Reading FC, West Ham United FC, Charlton Athletic FC and Southampton FC prior to a move to Tyneside in 2010. A glazier and taxi driver while playing non-league football, the midfielder was in his mid-20s when he became a professional, playing for Crystal Palace FC and Charlton among others.