Earlier this season, Amiens was a lot stronger in-house against Nantes, but Christophe Pélissier’s team lost 2-1. Can the number seventeen of the Ligue win 1 Sunday afternoon or will Nantes win for the third time in ten days?
Nantes:
Last Wednesday, Nantes met reigning (and most likely also upcoming) reigning champion Paris Saint-Germain, but despite the fact that Vahid Halilhodzic’s team is only fourteenth in the standings, the title party of the Parisians was postponed. After the early opening goal of the Parisians, les Canaris turned the game around and within ten minutes after the break it was even 3-1 in favor of the men of Halilhodzic. In the final phase goalkeeper Maxime Dupe had to get the ball out of the net again, but his team eventually won 3-2.
The big man at les Canaris was Brazilian defender Diego Carlos, who not only neutralized multiple attacks by the Parisians, but also brought his team to the same level after PSG’s early opening goal. No player was in Nantes’ base more often this season than Carlos, so it can be said that the Brazilian is one of the supporting forces of this team. In his first 91 duels in the Ligue 1, the defender scored only three times, but against PSG, the Brazilian, who has been one of the better players in his team all season, could have scored again, were it not for Dani Alves got the ball into his own goal.
Amiens:
After a draw against Angers, Girondins de Bordeaux and AS Saint-Étienne, Amiens played a draw against Dijon for the fourth time in a row. Of the last four games of Amiens, three even ended without goals, including last weekend’s 0-0 draw against Dijon. With that score, the team of Christophe Pélissier even got away well, because against the four goal attempts of les Licornes there were no less than eighteen goal attempts from Dijon. With eleven points from the last seven games (two wins, five draws), the Pélissier team has suddenly been performing as a mid-engine in the last few months, but can the team continue to do so in the remainder of the season?
Against Nantes, Pélissier will certainly not be able to draw one of his fixed values, as midfielder Eddy Gnahoré received his second yellow card in the final phase of the match against Dijon, something that happened to him earlier this season against Caen. Only goalie Régis Gurtner played more league games this season than Gnahoré, who is the second most scoring player of his team with four goals. The suspected replacement of Gnahoré, Thomas Monconduit, is a lot less effective in terms of offense with zero goals and zero goals, so the suspension of Gnahoré is likely to have an impact on the attacking intentions of Amiens.
PREDICTION: Nantes to win @ 1,90
