Auxerre vs Lorient prediction: FRANCE: Ligue 1 betting tips on match 2022-09-15 19:00.
From their best four-game start to a Ligue 1 campaign since 2005/06 (W2, D1, L1) to losing three consecutive league matches, Auxerre have had a stunning reversal of fortunes within the first two months of this campaign. Some of the blame for that can certainly be pinned on Auxerre’s slow starts, as all four of their Ligue 1 losses saw them concede first before the half-hour mark.
Their 5-0 defeat at Rennes last weekend was also Auxerre’s heaviest top-flight loss since February 2010, but coach Jean-Marc Furlan said he was "not angry" given "the budget gap between the two sides". There will be no such excuse here though, as the AJA welcome Lorient – a side with nearly half Rennes’ budget – and against whom they have not lost a single H2H at the Stade AbbĂ© Deschamps (W5, D5).
The arrival of coach Régis Le Bris this summer has worked wonders so far at Lorient, as they sit fourth in the Ligue 1 standings after seven rounds and are currently enjoying their best start ever to a new top-flight campaign (W5, D1, L1). The second youngest coach in the league, who spent ten years as the head of Lorient’s training center, stated however that it was not the time to “get carried away”.
The Brittany-born coach also described their recent 3-2 home victory against Nantes as an “exceptional moment”, one that could get even better as it’s given Lorient the chance to win four top-flight games in a row for the first time since December 2013! Lorient’s current three-game unbeaten run away to newly-promoted sides in the top-flight (W2, D1) suggests they’re primed to achieve that feat.
Players to watch: Auxerre will hope Hamza Sakhi can find the net given they’ve lost none of the 18 matches that he’s scored in (W15, D3). Meanwhile, youngster Dango Ouattara has contributed to seven of Lorient’s nine goals across their last four Ligue 1 outings (G3, A4).
Hot stat: Four of Auxerre’s seven Ligue 1 matches this campaign have seen the opening goal scored within ten minutes.