FRANCE: Ligue 1
Date: 07-08-21
Time: 16:00 PM
Venue: Parc Olympique Lyonnais (Lyon)
Lyon will start the new Ligue 1 (L1) season with what will be their 100th top-flight game at Groupama Stadium (W60, D19, L20). The aim this campaign will be to qualify for the UEFA Champions League after a two-year absence, but ‘Les Gones’ will have to cope with the huge loss of Memphis Depay who joined Barcelona this summer, a player that was involved in 39.51% of Lyon’s L1 goals last season.
Looking to extend a run that’s seen them go unbeaten in their previous 17 opening games of a new top-flight campaign (W14, D3) – the longest current such run in the league – Peter Bosz’s men will surely rely on an attack that has found the net in each of their last 18 L1 outings. Incredibly, that’s their longest such run since February 1959!
Visitors Brest came very close to finishing in the relegation play-off spot last season, due to a catastrophic run-in which saw them claim just one win across L1’s last ten matchdays. Here, the away side play a third consecutive season in the top-flight for the first time since 2012/13 – a season in which they finished 20th and were relegated.
The start of the season isn’t the visitors’ specialty either, as Brest are now winless in their last eight opening games of a new L1 campaign (D4, L4) – the longest current run in the division. Although they’re yet to win at Lyon in their L1 history (D2, L7), Brest will be pinning their hopes on new coach Michel Der Zakarian, who has won his last three top-flight H2Hs against Lyon by a one-goal margin.
Players to watch: Houssem Aouar has been involved in Lyon’s second goal in each of the previous three competitive H2Hs (two goals, one assist). Speaking of which, Irvin Cardona has been Brest’s second or third scorer in seven of his goalscoring L1 games in 2020/21, including the last H2H..
Recent Stats:
- Lyon’s form in last 5 matches: LLDWW.
- Brest’s form in last 5 matches: LWLLL.
PREDICTION: Home and Over 1.5
