Brest vs Lens prediction: FRANCE: Ligue 1 betting tips on match 2023-08-12 11:00.
After a relatively quiet summer of transfer activity, last season’s 14th-place finishers Brest return to Ligue 1 action with a home clash against a Lens side that finished just one point adrift of champions Paris Saint-Germain in 2022/23. The hosts ended last season strongly with three wins from their last four games, establishing an eventual nine-point buffer to the drop zone and booking a fifth-straight season in France’s top tier in the process.
With such stability at this level, boss Éric Roy may be targeting a first top-ten finish in the top-flight for the Pirates since 1989/90, when they played under their former moniker of Brest Armorique. Any push up the table may have to wait for now though, with Brest failing to win all but one of their season-opening league games since 2010 (W1, D6, L6) in a run which may have fans feeling rather pessimistic ahead of the big kick-off.
Lens ought to be feeling full of hope about the new campaign after remaining in the title race until the penultimate matchday, having already booked their place in their first UEFA Champions League group stage since 2002/03. The visitors have however lost the services of Loïs Openda, who scored 31% of their league goals last season (G21), alongside Seko Fofana, who followed the raft of players heading to Saudi Arabia.
There has been a level of reinvestment in the squad, so it will be interesting to see how this new-look Lens fare in what they hope will be yet another unlikely title tilt amid the chaos behind the scenes at perennial winners PSG. A relatively strong start has been the norm of late for the Blood and Gold, who haven’t failed to score in any of their last five season-opening league games (W3, D1, L1), with all victories therein seeing them net at least twice.
Players to watch: Martín Satriano rejoins Brest on loan from Inter Milan after his four goals from 15 league appearances during his last spell at the club in 2021/22 helped them achieve a comfortable mid-table position. As for Lens, 32-year-old forward Florian Sotoca will hope to hit the ground running here after scoring three of his seven league goals last season by way of a hat-trick against none other than Brest in the opening round.
Hot streak: Lens have scored before half-time in each of their last seven league games (HT: W6, D1).