Soccer France Ligue 1 Prediction

Angers vs Lille - Match Preview

⚽ 8 April 2023 - 15:00 GMT +0

A 1-1 home draw against Nice may have halted rock-bottom Angers dreadful run of five consecutive losses in Ligue 1, but things still look mathematically challenging with a 15-point gap to safety ahead of the round. Things aren’t much better off the pitch either, as the club's current owner, Saïd Chabane, was taken into custody on Tuesday for "organised money laundering".

That only serves to rub salt in the wounds of an Angers side who have won just one of their 15 league home games this campaign (D3, L11), though the fact they failed to score only three times in the process suggests that their biggest concern lies at the back. The visit of Lille, a side against whom they’ve not conceded more than once in the previous three H2Hs, could therefore be seen as a reasonable opportunity to claim their first league win since mid-September.

Since bravely losing 4-3 to league-leaders PSG in mid-February, an in-form Lille have come into their own and are buoyed by a five-game unbeaten run (W3, D2), capped off by a 3-1 home win against Lorient last weekend. Sitting in the top five as a result, and knowing their closest challengers Rennes don't play until Sunday, Paulo Fonseca’s men will look to stretch their cushion to the chasing pack with a crucial win here.

Boosting belief they can do so, the LOSC have travelled well to this venue of late, avoiding defeat in their last three visits to Stade Raymond-Kopa (W2, D1), and should be confident of extending that given they’re unbeaten away from home against current bottom-half sides this season (W5, D2). A fit and firing attack could be key to extending that run, as three of those five wins have seen the 2020/21 Ligue 1 champions score exactly three goals.

📋 Players to watch: Angers’ resurgence may need a lift from Brighton loanee Abdallah Sima who has netted each of his four competitive goals in 2022/23 on home soil. Lille will hope their lucky charm Mohamed Bayo can find the net given he has led his team to victory in his four goalscoring outings this campaign.

⚡ Hot streak: Angers is the only Ligue 1 side not to win a home game this term after scoring first (D1, L2).

Nice vs Paris SG - Match Preview

⚽ 8 April 2023 - 19:00 GMT +0

Unless Nice can produce a remarkable turnaround in Ligue 1’s final nine games, then they look set to miss out on the European spots. Their push for a top-five finish has been slowed by four successive draws, all of which saw the designated away side peculiarly score first, but the Eaglets are currently in the midst of a 14-match unbeaten run in all competitions (W8, D6), the second-longest in the club’s history, inching them ever closer to the club record of 16 games set back in 1984!

They are subsequently unbeaten in home league action since September and won this fixture against league leaders PSG last season, meaning they may have some believe they can open up the title race, for other teams at least. Nice fans will still be wary of facing the champions, as that 1-0 win last season is one of just three victories over PSG across the last 24 Ligue 1 H2Hs (D5, L16)!

Despite holding a healthy six-point lead atop Ligue 1 ahead of the round, misfiring PSG won’t be travelling in buoyant fashion having slumped to back-to-back league defeats. Alongside their UEFA Champions League elimination and a humiliating last-16 Coupe de France exit, the Parisians can’t afford to let the Ligue 1 title slip too, but having lost three of their last five on the road (W2), another slip-up isn’t out of the question.

When Christophe Galtier left Nice for the French capital, he’d likely never have imagined he’d be returning to his former employers battling for a result to save his job. It probably wouldn’t be Gaultier's premier pick for an away game to secure a job-saving result either, as he hasn’t overseen a victory in a personal away H2H since November 2013 (D3, L4), which casts doubt on whether PSG can avoid a third-straight Ligue 1 defeat for the first time since 2010!

📋 Key battle: Gaëtan Laborde scored Nice’s sole goal in the reverse H2H and seven of his last eight strikes have served as team openers. Marshalling him, Marquinhos is set to make an impressive 400th appearance in all competitions for PSG and he has interestingly scored a header in two of his last five away appearances against Nice.

⚡ Hot stat: Nice have kept a second-half clean sheet in six of their last seven league matches.