Clermont vs Lorient prediction: FRANCE: Ligue 1 betting tips on match 2023-05-26 19:00.
Clermont’s stunning undefeated stretch of seven Ligue 1 games (W6, D1) may have ended with a 2-1 loss away to Brest, but the future is still rosy for the central French club with a top-half finish a distinct possibility. One month after head coach Pascal Gastien and his five assistants had their contracts extended to June 2025, they’ll now be looking to avenge last August’s 2-1 loss to Lorient.
Gastien regretted “a lack of attention” defensively when they gave up their opening goal lead within just a couple of minutes prior to last weekend’s loss. Just getting an early advantage in front of their own home fans has been hard enough, with three of their four consecutive Ligue 1 wins at home coming despite Clermont conceding the match opener within 30 minutes.
Despite their recent woes, Lorient could still achieve their best Ligue 1 finish of the last decade by winning here and leapfrogging Clermont further up the top half of the table. A 3-1 loss at home to Lens officially eliminated them from the European qualification places, but there have still been reports as recently as last week that manager RĂ©gis Le Bris is attracting the attention of Nice.
Just like their hosts, they too converted an opening goal into a loss last weekend, but could at least continue Clermont’s recent woes of falling behind at home after that was their fourth consecutive Ligue 1 game in which they scored first (W2, D1, L1). Four rounds after a shock 3-1 win at PSG, it wouldn’t surprise to see Lorient strip a top-half host of points, having done so in four of their eight Ligue 1 away trips against clubs starting this round above them in the standings (W2, D2, L4).
Players to watch: The last eight Ligue 1 goals from Clermont’s home ground specialist Grejohn Kyei have all been at the Stade Gabriel Montpied, spread across six one-goal margin wins to his team. On the other hand, Lorient midfielder Romain Faivre has opened the scoring in their last two games without victory.
Hot stat: The reverse H2H was the only one of the last ten to produce more than 2.5 total goals.