Nice vs Real Sociedad prediction: EUROPE: Europa League – League phase betting tips on match 2024-09-24 19:00.
[p]It had proved to be an underwhelming start to the new Ligue 1 season for Nice but a thumping 8-0 win over Saint-Etienne on Friday night should send them into the first round of this season’s UEFA Europa League full of vigour and confidence. That was just the third time in club history that the home side have won a French top-flight match by an 8+ goal margin, and their attention must swiftly turn to plotting a route through to the knockout stage of Europe’s second tier tournament for the first time since 2017/18.[/p]
[p]Their opening fixture comes against Real Sociedad – a side that they’ve never faced in a competitive game before – with this serving as their first against Spanish opposition in European competition overall for the first time since September 1976. Given that they lost five of their six group stage games during their last Europa League sojourn (W1), Nice could very much struggle to begin this latest campaign with victory. [/p]
[p]Visiting Sociedad have also struggled of late in European action, failing to win any of their last four such matches (D2, L2) which represents their longest streak since a seven-game span (D6, L1) ending in September 2021. To make matters worse, and potentially give the away side an even bigger psychological barrier to deal with too, both of those two losses have come in their last two outings and both to French opposition. [/p]
[p]Those defeats help to form a run of six matches in major European competition (excluding qualifiers) without victory against French sides for Sociedad (D1, L5) who will be desperate to rediscover their shooting boots for this outing. That’s because they’ve now failed to score in each of their last three away games across all tournaments, the last of which ended in a 0-0 La Liga stalemate with Real Valladolid at the weekend. [/p]
[p]Players to watch: Mohamed-Ali Cho joined Nice from Sociedad this summer and his two strikes for the French club so far have come between the 20th and 25th minutes. Sociedad captain Mikel Oyarzabal may not have scored so far this season, but he has previously netted seven goals across 28 UEFA club appearances, including two Champions League goals last season.[/p]
[p]Hot streak: None of Sociedad’s last six competitive away matches saw both sides score on the day.[/p]
[p][i]Written by Nathan Evans  [/i][/p]