Nice vs Montpellier prediction: FRANCE: Ligue 1 betting tips on match 2025-02-22 16:15.
[p]Ligue 1 is shaping up for an intriguing end to the season, with a whole host of sides battling for a top-three spot. Nice are one of those sides, but they haven’t finished third or higher in Ligue 1 since 2016/17, so they’ve got a negative historical omen to overcome. They’re guaranteed to make history here though, as this will be their 1200th home match in Ligue 1 (W643, D298, L258).[/p]
[p]They couldn’t have hand-picked a better opponent for this landmark day, as they host bottom-of-the-table Montpellier, who Nice have beaten in six of their last eight Ligue 1 home games (L2). They look good value to improve on that run here as one of two teams unbeaten at home in Ligue 1 this season (W7, D3), and having scored in their last 16 Ligue 1 games, they are on the brink of recording their longest scoring run in a single season in Ligue 1 since August-December 1959 (22). [/p]
[p]Things couldn’t be much more negative for Montpellier who are bringing up the rear in Ligue 1. The basement club have lost three successive league games, and the fact they’ve all come by a 2+ goal margin will be of particular concern for boss Jean-Louis Gasset, who currently has the second-worst points-per-game ratio of any Montpellier manager in history to have overseen at least 15 games (0.73). [/p]
[p]Nine defeats from ten away league games this season (W1) would suggest that average will drop even further this weekend, and with seven of those matches seeing Montpellier fail to score, they could go down with a whimper. There is one positive omen they can cling to though, and that’s that they’ve won two of their last three games on this ground. [/p]
[p]Players to watch: Sofiane Diop scored in the 94th minute against Le Havre last week, but his three Nice goals before that all came in the first half. Montpellier’s Kiki KouyatĂ© is in line to make his 100th Ligue 1 appearance here – he’s only ever scored two Ligue 1 goals but the first one was away to Nice![/p]
[p]Hot stat: Montpellier are one of just two Ligue 1 teams to see all of their away league games feature at least one second-half goal. [/p]
[p][i]Written by Chris Wilson[/i][/p]