Montpellier vs Lyon prediction: FRANCE: Ligue 1 betting tips on match 2022-10-21 15:00.
After losing seven of their opening 11 games (W4), the powers that be at Montpellier seemingly had no choice other than to part ways with boss Olivier Dall’Oglio. Former player Romain Pitau takes caretaker charge until at least after the World Cup, and having won the French title with Montpellier as a player back in 2011/12, he knows exactly what’s required to succeed at this club.
Montpellier have seen a win-loss pattern across all of their home league games this season (W3, L3) and that’s a trend that Pitau would like to continue in his opening game after they lost 2-0 to Monaco in their last match at the Stade de la Mosson. Fans might be hopeful too, as Montpellier have a decent recent record in this H2H at home after only one defeat across the last five meetings (W2, D2), albeit that was last season, but the added incentive here is that a win would see them leapfrog a faltering Lyon side.
After only seeing a worse 11-game start to their season (W4, D2, L5) twice since they placed 16th after 11 games back in 1995/96, Lyon also opted for a change of manager by appointing Laurent Blanc earlier this month. Blanc has won four French championships across his stints as a manager of PSG and Bordeaux, yet a 3-2 defeat away to Rennes in his opening game means that Lyon will enter this game as the worst travelling side in Ligue 1 (D1, L4).
Their current five-game wait for a travelling league win is Lyon’s worst run since a six-game streak back in 2017, and this is the first time that they’ve gone winless across their first five away games of a league season since 2002/03! Lyon won 1-0 at the sixth attempt in that year, so a failure to take the spoils this time around will secure their worst away start in 30 years.
Players to watch: Elye Wahi is Montpellier’s top scorer with five league goals, yet he’s failed to win in six of his last nine scoring appearances – including a 5-2 defeat to Lyon. Trying to outdo him will be Lyon’s top-scorer Alexandre Lacazette, who has more career goal contributions across his 12 H2Hs with Montpellier (G8, A6) than against any other side.
Hot stat: Montpellier have scored a league-high seven goals in the opening 15 minutes of play, making up a third of their total goals.