St Etienne vs Le Havre prediction: FRANCE: Ligue 1 betting tips on match 2024-08-23 19:00.
[p]Despite St Étienne opening a new league season with a Round one defeat for the third consecutive time, there was plenty to be encouraged by. Manager Oliver Dall’Oglio fielded five starters aged 23 or younger in the 1-0 loss at Monaco and was consequently not expecting the most polished performance, but spoke of his pride in the “fight” and “courage” shown by his players at the iconic Stade Louis II. [/p]
[p]Dall’Oglio also hinted that the club will need to recruit some experienced heads to steer them through their return to the top-flight, and it’s at home where significant improvement will be required. Their promotion was earned in spite of Ligue 2’s eighth-best home record last season, while St Étienne also lost five of their ten home league encounters (W3, D2) against the other clubs to collect more than 50 points! [/p]
[p]Le Havre suffered a far heavier opening-day loss (4-1) despite being level with defending champions PSG at the 80-minute mark, similarly leaving them with lots to be proud of but nothing to show for it. It was perhaps no surprise for a team who narrowly missed the relegation play-off last season, though the club will also need to improve their own output against fellow relegation candidates to avoid trouble.[/p]
[p]Subjecting an eight-man St Étienne to a club record home loss (6-0) two seasons ago remains fresh in the mind of many, but a repeat of that rout is unlikely when considering that Le Havre won only one of their 17 away trips last Ligue 1 campaign (D9, L7). That included underwhelming efforts against relegated trio Lorient (D 3-3), Metz (D 0-0) and Clermont (L 2-1), so a visit to their newly-promoted hosts cannot be taken for granted.[/p]
[p]Players to watch: It was an unhappy first team debut for Marwann N’Zuzi, who received St Étienne’s only yellow card, but perhaps it was an unsurprising one since he was booked in four of his last five appearances for the reserve team. Le Havre defender Christopher Operi may be more cheery, as he assisted his side’s only goal against PSG, and was twice on the scoresheet in the 6-0 rout of St Étienne two seasons back.[/p]
[p]Hot stat: St Étienne’s 19 home games last league season produced an average of just 2.00 total goals per game. [/p]
[p][i]Written by Aaron Murphy[/i][/p]