Lens vs Lyon prediction: FRANCE: Ligue 1 betting tips on match 2023-12-01 16:00.
A return to Ligue 1 will be most welcome for Lens and their fans, who’ll be happy their team have been able to separate domestic form from their European performances of late. Lens saw their UEFA Champions League dream come to an end in the most brutal fashion when losing 6-0 to Arsenal in midweek, but will put that aside as they have an eight-game undefeated streak in Ligue 1 to defend (W5, D3).
The backbone of that success has been their defensive line, which has kept six clean sheets in those eight matches. The Stade Bollaert-Delelis will therefore welcome their troops home from their London nightmare with open arms, since the Blood and Gold have won no less than 20 of their home league matches since the start of last season (D3, L2), the most in the competition.
Looking to take advantage of a potentially fragile Lens are an even more frail and now managerless Lyon, who sit bottom of Ligue 1 after a 2-0 loss to Lille last time out, which ultimately proved Fabio Grosso’s last game in charge. Former academy manager Pierre Sage now adopts the team on an interim basis with Lyon having accumulated a lowly seven points in their 12 games, proving their odds of survival are continuously thinning since only four of the last 15 sides with that tally after 12 games have managed to survive.
Les Gones’ only win this season did come in their last away match though, a 1-0 success at Rennes, which snapped what was their joint-longest winless run in their top-flight history at 11 games (D4, L7). The odds are against them to replicate that win here, but avoiding defeat in 22 of their last 25 league meetings with Lens (W16, D6, L3) should give their travelling contingent hope.
Players to watch: Lens forward Florian Sotoca has netted the match opener in five of his last seven goalscoring outings, including in this very fixture last season. Attempting to outgun him will be Lyon captain Alexandre Lacazette, who’s netted in three of his last four games against Lens to end up on the winning side.
Hot stat: There have been under 1.5 first-half goals in ten of Lens’ last 12 Ligue 1 fixtures.