Clermont vs Nantes prediction: FRANCE: Ligue 1 betting tips on match 2023-09-16 13:00.
It looked as though Clermont were on their way to making it four defeats from four in this new Ligue 1 season after going 2-0 down inside 15 minutes at Toulouse before the international break. Showcasing their character, Pascal Gastien's side rallied and snatched an equaliser deep into stoppage time to grab their first point of the new season. Despite the late nature of the comeback, Gastien opined his side probably “deserved more” having dominated possession, xG and overall goal attempts.
He will now hope they can use that result and performance as a platform to build upon, but to do so they will need to start games in a more robust manner, as the draw at Toulouse was the fourth Ligue 1 game from the last five in which they’ve conceded at least one goal inside the opening 30 minutes.
Based on the H2H meetings with Nantes last season, that could change here as goals were at a premium, with both clashes producing a total of just two (D2). Those matches did at least extend Nantes' unbeaten H2H record since Clermont’s Ligue 1 promotion in 2021/22, having picked up two wins in the season prior, and they’d certainly welcome adding to that record here given their own unremarkable start to the new campaign.
The visitors have yet to win this season (D2, L2), a record which represents their joint worst four-round opening for ten years. They did at least bounce back from losing Bastien Meupiyou due to a straight red and going a goal down in the opening ten minutes against Marseille to secure a 1-1 draw before the international break, which should have lifted spirits ahead of this latest attempt to secure a first Ligue 1 away win since February (D2, L6).
Players to watch: Grejohn Kyei, who scored nearly a quarter of Clermont’s league goals last season (ten), finally opened his account for this campaign against Toulouse. Nantes forward Mostafa Mohamed has four goals in four games in this new campaign, and registered solid Flashscore ratings of 7.0+ in three of those matches.
Hot stat: Nantes have conceded exactly two goals in four of their last five away Ligue 1 matches.