Reims vs Auxerre prediction: FRANCE: Ligue 1 betting tips on match 2025-03-08 16:15.
[p]Reims are fighting for Ligue 1 survival, but changing managers has done little to boost their hopes of beating the drop. After Luka Elsner’s sacking last month, interim boss Samba Diawara was then handed the reins on a full-time basis despite two successive top-flight losses as caretaker, with his first two league matches in permanent charge also ending in defeat. [/p]
[p]While that was a 13th game without a Ligue 1 win for the Red and Whites (D5, L8), it was also a fourth straight loss in the competition under Diawara without scoring. Consequently, Reims have now slipped to within two points of the bottom three ahead of this round of fixtures, and a return to Stade Auguste-Delaune is unlikely to provide much comfort given that no team in the division has picked up fewer home victories this season (W2, D4, L6).[/p]
[p]The good news is that opponents Auxerre have a similarly miserable away record, accumulating just five points (W1, D2, L8) on their travels so far this term – the third-worst record in Ligue 1 heading into the weekend. They have also registered only one win in their last 13 games across all competitions (D6, L6), the most recent of which was a 1-0 loss to Strasbourg.[/p]
[p]Christophe Pélissier’s men are therefore 12th ahead of this round, but the eight-point cushion to the relegation zone after matchday 24 is more than acceptable for a side in their first season back in the top flight. That gap might decrease this weekend though, as AJA have a lower win percentage (14.3%) against Reims than against any other current Ligue 1 club, albeit their one victory from seven attempts (D1, L5) did come in October’s reverse fixture.[/p]
[p]Key battle: Reims forward Oumar Diakité has seen 11 of his last 12 goals for club and country serve as the first or last of the game, but he is in the midst of a 15-match scoring drought. He may fancy his chances of finding the net against Auxerre goalkeeper Donovan Léon, who last kept an away clean sheet in Ligue 1 in November 2011 and has conceded at least twice in ten of the 11 such encounters since (W1, D2, L8).[/p]
[p]Hot stat: Auxerre are the only side who have seen at least two goals scored in each of their Ligue 1 away fixtures this season.[/p]
[p][i]Written by Matt Jones[/i][/p]