St Etienne coach Alain Perrin fears his team may not make the most of the fixture calendar in the first few weeks of the season.
Three of Les Verts' opening four matches of the campaign are at home, the first coming against Nice on Saturday.
But with continuing injury troubles and a shortage of strikers in his squad, Perrin admits they are not in the best shape heading into the new season.
"It is a bit of a shame that these three matches at home come at a time where we haven't all our forces," said Perrin, who is starting his first full season in charge of ASSE.
"Points lost at home are hard to compensate for."
Bafetimbi Gomis was sold to Lyon for 13million euros, Sebastien Grax has also departed and fellow striker Araujo Ilan is out injured so Perrin will rely on Kevin Mirallas up front for the next few weeks.
The club are, though, hoping to bring in attacking reinforcements as soon as possible.
Loic Perrin is out with a thigh problem, while defenders Mahamadou Dabo and Sylvain Monsoreau are still nursing injuries and will not be considered.
St Etienne only survived relegation last season on the final weekend, whereas Nice spent most of the campaign in mid-table.
The southerners have brought in Didier Olle-Nicolle as coach over the summer as a replacement for the departed Frederic Antonetti and he will be missing four players for his first league match in charge.
Emerse Fae and Jonathan Quartey (thigh) are injured while defender Onyekachi Apam and striker Mamadou Bagayoko, a summer signing from Nantes, have bans carried over from last season.
