Lille vs Strasbourg prediction: FRANCE: Ligue 1 betting tips on match 2024-04-20 13:00.
[p]Lille fought valiantly before losing on penalties to Aston Villa in Thursday’s UEFA Europa Conference League quarter-final second leg. Defeat could ultimately prove a blessing in disguise for Paulo Fonseca’s men, who are now able to solely focus on domestic matters as they head into this weekend sitting five points clear of fifth-placed Nice in Ligue 1’s fourth and final UEFA Champions League qualification spot. [/p]
[p]Given that they are also on a five-game unbeaten league run (W3, D2) – their longest of 2024 – Les Dogues will fancy their chances of rejoining European football’s elite, especially as three of their final six matches of the campaign are against current bottom-seven opponents. The first of those is against Strasbourg – a team that Lille haven’t lost against in all six of the H2Hs held at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy (W4, D2). [/p]
[p]Despite their bottom-half position, Strasbourg are on a handy run of ten points from four outings themselves, which has virtually eliminated some very real relegation concerns. The latest of those positive results was a 3-1 win over top-six chasers Reims, while away from home, only Paris Saint-Germain, Monaco and Lille have lost fewer than their five matches in the division this season – a record boosted by five points taken from their last three such games.[/p]
[p]Patrick Vieira’s side will also be buoyed by December’s 2-1 triumph over Lille, which ended an awful sequence of 11 league H2Hs without a victory (D3, L8) and has helped push Strasbourg to within four points of their 40-point tally from 2022/23, ahead of winnable encounters against strugglers Le Havre and Metz next month. [/p]
[p]Players to watch: Lille left-back Gabriel Gudmundsson is certainly not known for his goal contributions, but he has registered two across his last three games (G1, A1). One man looking to keep the Scandinavian worried defensively is likely to be Dilane Bakwa, who has notched up four assists in as many matches, leaving him on five for the season on course to beat his career-best total of seven assists in a campaign. [/p]
[p]Hot stat: Going into this round of fixtures, Strasbourg have scored more Ligue 1 goals after the 80th minute (nine) than any team apart from PSG (14). [/p]