Montpellier vs Le Havre prediction: FRANCE: Ligue 1 betting tips on match 2023-08-12 13:00.
Having ended last season in Ligue 1 closer to the relegation places than the European spots, there’s a clear goal in sight for Montpellier. The picture looked a lot gloomier at one point for La Paillade, who needed coach Michel Der Zakarian to come in and steady the ship in February, something he did to great effect, collecting nine wins from his 16 league games in charge (D3, L4).
With summer additions few and far between so far, the best work Montpellier have done in the transfer window is arguably holding onto star man, Elye Wahi. Replacing his 19 league goals of last season was always likely to be tricky, so by holding onto him, at least for now, Der Zakarian will hope he can fire Montpellier to a third Ligue 1 opening day win in four seasons.
Champions of Ligue 2 last season, Le Havre return to the French top-flight for the first time since 2008/09. They'll be aiming for a better outcome than that season’s bottom-placed finish, but having warmed up for this curtain raiser with five successive pre-season defeats against side’s they’re sharing a division with, question marks remain over their top-flight credentials.
Encouragingly, they did end last season’s promotion campaign as the joint-best travelling side, which shows they’re capable of getting results on the road. Transferring that form into Ligue 1 remains the ultimate goal, but with a summer spend of less than £2 million proving they lack the riches of the division’s big-hitters, boss Luka Elsner may be left rueing what he described as a “tough market” if his side start the season slowly.
Players to watch: Tending to grow into the game, Wahi has seen his last 12 Ligue 1 goals arrive on or beyond the 40th minute. Linked with the likes of Arsenal and Manchester City in his youth, four of Nabil Alioui’s last five league strikes for Le Havre opened the scoring.
Hot stat: Only PSG (14) scored more than Montpellier’s 13 Ligue 1 home goals in the opening 15 minutes of play last season.