Nice vs. Saint-Étienne: 8th February 2017

OGC Nice (3rd)

“Autumn champion” in 2017 has repeated the excellent developments in the first part of the season. Accounting for one win, two draws and two defeats (1-2 vs Lorient in the French Cup and 0-3 in the derby against AS Monaco), Nice start confirm what skeptics who sustained throughout the course of the band’s tour Favre can not keep up with large forces in Ligue 1.

Nice busy for a long time occupied the first position in the ranking of the best defenses. Moreover, beyond the big names that make up the attack, it was the effective defense due to which group the Ivory Coast managed to tick success after success. Unfortunately for fans of the “Allianz Riviera”, things have never shown as well in the new year, the group their first goal in four of the five official matches that were played after the winter holidays.

Previous round saw a painful defeat on “Stade Louis II” in the fight for supremacy with AS Monaco. After a very successful first half (0-0), the second showed tremendous difference between the two competitors at the moment. However, Nice has proven tour that should not be underestimated. Players argue has value (the head of which is Super Mario Balotelli) who can rejoin at any rate.

AS Saint-Étienne (5th)

“Les Verts” crosses a grace period: three wins and a draw in the second leg in Ligue 1 last stage stands out when the group was prepared by Galtier definitely imposed in derby rivals Lyon (2-0).

As mentioned in previous articles devoted to the band’s “Geoffroy-Guichard Stade” momentary outages made the Galtier and staff or to approach things a little differently. A band focused mainly on closing down spaces and the attention paid to defense, Saint-Etienne has become more or less forced by circumstances, a band that shows that knows how to score a lot, with 2017 a average of 2 goals scored per game.

PROBABLE TEAMS

Nice (3-4-3): Cardinale – Bays, Dante, Sarr – Souquet, Cyprien, Seri, Henrique – Plea, Balotelli Eysseric

Saint-Etienne (4-3-3): Moulin – Pogba, Perrin, Teophile-Catherine, Malcuit – Saivet Veretout, Pajot – Monnet-Paquet, Soderlund, Hamouma

Conclusions & tip

Yes, Nice and Saint-Etienne was on the podium among the most effective defenses in Ligue 1. However, we believe the current climate is more favorable for marking several goals: 1. Favre and his are not as inspired in defense as they were in Monnet-Paquet and 2. tour company showed very well lately in terms of coaching 3. Nice is obliged to win, so to discover if he wants to keep contact with aS Monaco, so there the possibility that the “Greens” have higher chances to point 4. looks like this anyway, and Balotelli Plea remain two scorers class that can pierce any time outside effects.