A duel full of explosiveness is scheduled for Sunday evening in Ligue 1. Lyon welcomes St. Etienne, two rivals face off in a direct duel. The hosts come with a tailwind from the game against Juventus and want to squint in the league once again, St. Etienne wants to surprise the host.
Before the game Lyon vs. St. Etienne is our prediction that Lyon will win the game.
The question is which face Olympique will show. Rudi Garcia’s team often plays well at home, but also has slips with them, which ensure that the European Cup is not at the moment, but only in the middle of the table.
Lyon:
When the final whistle blew on Wednesday night between Lyon and Juventus, the French games could hardly believe it. After a rather average week in the league with just one win from three games, OL showed that league operations and the European Cup are still two different shoes. Lyon played well, sometimes dominated the “Vecchia Signora” and won 1-0.
This victory should give Rudi Garcia’s team momentum for the coming weeks. But now the favorite role has to be accepted again, because before the game Lyon vs. St. Etienne’s betting odds indicate that the host goes into the game with great advantages.
Lyon is currently in seventh place, the gap to Rennes and the CL qualification is currently seven points. Nothing is lost yet, especially because Rennes, but also teams like Lille or Monaco, who are in front of Lyon, don’t play consistently enough. Constance is the key word for the hosts, after the good appearance against Juventus, they must not become negligent, but must be concentrated from the start.
Against Juventus, the compactness and the work against the ball were excellent, even against Metz previously in the league, these elements worked well, despite some defenses in the defensive area.
So far, the home balance has been surprisingly weak. It comes as no surprise that the team is in the middle of the table. The current table standings can also be found on our website.
Although the competition is presenting this weekend, Lyon still want to set an example and win the difficult game against St. Etienne in order to be in a good starting position for the coming weeks. Lille, Reims and Rennes are the next opponents and at least two of these clubs are in the table in front of the Rudi Garcia team, so key games are pending. These duels are embedded by twice PSG in the cup and the second leg against Juventus. So it won’t get boring.
Rudi Garcia is not available to Oumar Solet, Youssouf Koné, Jeff Reine-Adelaide and Memphis Depay. Most recently, the coach bet on Metz and Juventus on a triple chain that could give the defensive stability. That was an important factor and could also be the means of choice against St. Etienne.
St. Etienne:
St. Etienne with coach Claude Puel has completely different problems compared to Lyon. The team is currently in 15th place, the first relegation zone is only two points away. The biggest problem is the dependency on Bouanga (9 goals) and Hamouma (6 goals), because there are only two players on the team who have otherwise scored more than once.
That means: the guests are reasonably easy to calculate. The fact that there are also defensive problems does not make the whole thing easier. 42 goals conceded without a win for five league games – the situation is threatening. Even though the squad is actually well positioned with players like Debuchy, M’Vila, Hamouma, Khazri and Saliba.
Before the game Lyon vs. St. Etienne is not encouraged by the odds. Even a draw is rated in the 4.0 range and is therefore not particularly likely. If statistics and odds do not speak for Claude Puel’s team, what does speak for them? OL may have to deal with a drop in tension after the exhausting game in the Euro Cup.
If the guests’ defensive remains stable, something seems to be possible. After all, the team has scored in the last three games, at least in this area there has been slight progress.
Zaydou Youssouf, the young midfielder, is also unavailable, as is Kevin Monnet-Paquet. Otherwise, Claude Puel can draw on the full, after the slightly improved 1-1 against Reims there will not be too many changes.
PREDICTION: Lyon to win @ 1,68
