Lille vs Nantes prediction: FRANCE: Ligue 1 betting tips on match 2023-08-19 11:00.
Manager Paulo Fonseca will be hoping his Lille players continue to show their fighting spirit as they go in search of a first win of the season. The Mastiffs came from behind to draw 1-1 with Nice in their opening Ligue 1 fixture last weekend, with Bafodé Diakité netting an injury-time equaliser, prompting the boss to praise the “character and courage” shown by the team.
It was a positive enough start to the campaign for the 2020/21 champions, who, having returned to Europe with a fifth-placed finish last season, also have one eye on a UEFA Europa Conference League play-off tie next week. They’ll undoubtedly be aiming to make the top three this season, in turn securing at least a Champions League qualification spot, but they’ll need to get their campaign off the ground quickly and could hand debuts to Ivan Cavaleiro and Ignacio Miramón, both of who signed too late to feature at the Allianz Riviera.
The pair will be hoping to guide their new club to victory over Nantes, who have a shockingly bad record in H2Hs, picking up just one win in the last 26 meetings between the two teams (D7, L18). That will hardly provide confidence to the visitors, who were beaten 2-1 by Toulouse in their opening match, despite taking a 13th-minute lead through Mostafa Mohamed’s penalty.
Manager Pierre Aristouy insists his side “deserved a draw” from that outing, pointing to injuries to key players as the reason for his side failing to secure a positive result. The Canaries, who escaped relegation by the skin of their teeth in 2022/23, are now hoping to end a dismal run of form away from home which has seen them go seven league games without a victory stretching back to February (D2, L5).
Key battle: Lille will be hoping Jonathan David can get off the mark for the season, given the striker has netted four times in six unbeaten appearances against Nantes (W4, D2). That doesn’t bode well for veteran Canaries defender Nicolas Pallios, who has won just one of his eight away H2Hs (D2, L5).
Hot stat: Nantes haven’t won an away league game in the month of August since 2019 (D4, L2).