Lille vs Montpellier prediction: FRANCE: Ligue 1 betting tips on match 2023-04-15 11:00.
Sunday’s Ligue 1 action gets underway at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy as European hopefuls Lille look to bounce back from their humiliating 1-0 defeat against rock-bottom Angers. Mastiffs boss Paulo Fonseca brought into question the “attitude and ambition” of his players after handing the basement boys a win, which is perhaps exacerbated by the fact their star man Jonathan David hasn’t scored since admitting he wants to move to a “bigger club” last month.
A home return is perhaps timely then for Lille, who have not tasted defeat here in competitive action since last August (W10, D4). Inspiring further confidence amongst the home faithful should be the fact that they’ve won every one of their home league games against sides beginning the round 12th or lower in the table, whilst scoring at least twice in all but one of those six victories.
Looking to buck that trend, 13th-placed Montpellier also head into this game on the back of a defeat, one which ended their incredible seven-game unbeaten run to begin Michel Der Zakarian’s second stint as manager (W5, D2). That blistering start has eased Montpellier away from the clutches of relegation and into midtable, so keeping his charges motivated with their survival all but assured now appears the priority for Der Zakarian.
Playing away hasn’t particularly fazed Montpellier of late, with La Paillade putting together a positive run of four unbeaten trips across their last five (W3, D1, L1), although considering all of those games featured two or fewer goals, entertainment was at a premium. Continuing that fine form at this venue is by no means assured though, as you’d have to go all the way back to 2011 for Montpellier’s last away win in Lille (D4, L6).
Players to watch: Lille will hope their top league scorer, Jonathan David (G19), can refocus and get back to his scoring best here after netting either side of half-time in the reverse fixture. Elye Wahi (G13) put Montpellier ahead inside of 20 minutes on that day and he comes into this clash in red-hot form with six goal involvements across his last five appearances (G5, A1).
Hot stat: Montpellier have scored eight of their 21 away league goals in the opening 15 minutes this season (38%).