Reims vs Clermont prediction: FRANCE: Ligue 1 betting tips on match 2023-08-19 13:00.
Manager Will Still famously led Reims to a memorable 17-game unbeaten run in Ligue 1 at the start of his tenure last term, but form has taken a nosedive since, with eight defeats from 12 competitive fixtures (W2, D2). A 2-1 defeat to Marseille bookends that run, with Still’s men taking the lead inside ten minutes on the opening weekend of the 2023/24 campaign, before the tide turned, meaning they have now failed to win any of the last four games when they have scored the first goal (D1, L3).
Reims’ record against Sunday’s opponents, Clermont, is distinctly mixed, having lost out in both contests last term. The Red and Whites have been strong on home soil in this fixture though, tasting defeat just once in the last five such matches (W3, D1). It’s perhaps just as well Reims return home then as they look to offset the impact of the loss of last season’s top scorer Folarin Balogun, who netted 21 of the club’s 45 Ligue 1 goals in 2022/23.
Clermont were arguably one of the biggest overachievers in Europe last season, rising nine places to finish eighth – their best-ever top-flight finish. At just shy of six years in charge of the Lancers, Pascal Gastien is by a distance Ligue 1’s longest-serving current boss, and he cemented his position at the helm by guiding the Auvergne-RhĂ´ne-Alpes outfit to an amazing eight wins from their final ten games in L1 last season (D1, L1).
That said, the 59-year-old will be looking to solidify his side’s defence following their 4-2 opening-weekend defeat at home to Monaco, representing the third competitive match in four in which Clermont have conceded at least twice. Remarkably though, they have won four of the last five matches in which they have conceded first (D1) – not good news for Reims, particularly with their penchant for dropping points from winning positions of late.
Players to watch: Marshall Munetsi was Reims’ second-top scorer last season, and the club haven’t lost in their 12 matches when he has netted (W10, D2). Like Munetsi for Reims, Muhammad Cham was runner-up in the goal charts for Clermont in 2022/23, scoring the decisive third in the corresponding fixture last August. Cham has carried that form into the current campaign, getting a goal and an assist last weekend against Monaco.
Hot streak: Both teams have scored in each of Clermont’s last four Ligue 1 away matches.