Lens is a club of a pretty glorious past, and the relegation from Ligue 1 two years ago was seen as a big setback. Things got a bit better after their successful campaign in the Ligue 2 and the return to the elite. Now their club board, the coach and their players have to prove they deserve a place in the French most quality division. The city of Lens is probably the biggest football city in France, and it’s very interesting that the Felix-Bollaert stadium has got more capacity than there are citizens in their city. That of course draws the conclusion that Lens will be winning most of the points at home, trying to stack up enough points in order to avoid any relegation problems. They’ve played pretty tough and good at home this year again, and only the equalizer conceded in the closing minutes of their match against Lille have somewhat ruined their home record. All in all, it seems Lens has got enough quality to remain in the Ligue 1, but for some better results they would have to wait for some brighter times. Coach Jean-Guy Wallemme will have all of his regulars available for this clash, as there are no squad worries. The following 11 will most likely be fielded: Runje; Demont, Chelle, Yahia, Laurenti; Kovacevic, Hermach; Boukari, Sow, Milanovic; Eduardo.
Terrific despite being weakened
After a lot of changes for the teams in between the seasons, nobody was certain how the new team would look like, and what kind of results they would be recording at the start of new season. Coach Puel was optimistic before the start of the season, and it turned out he was completely right. Despite the fact Lyon has been having many injury worries since the beginning of the season, that wasn’t visible in their results at all. They’re currently 2nd in the league after 7 rounds with 5 wins and 2 draws. They’re doing great in the CL too, firstly demolishing Anderlecht in the qualies, and then started out with the wins against Fiorentina and Debrecen in the groups. How will this team play when the injured players recover, it can’t even be imagined. Anyhow, it seems like Lyon will be in the position to regain their dominance in France. Puel is awaiting new troubles with composing the squad for this match as Boumsong, Bodmer and Anderson are out. Beside that, Makoun will miss out due to personal issues, while the biggest blow is surely the absence of their biggest acquisition from this summer, Lopez, who will be out for a few more weeks at least. However, young Lyon’s players have shown that they’re a very serious team, and there’s no doubt they will use every opportunity given by their coach Puel. The lineup will look like the following: Lloris; Reveillere, Seguin, Cris, Cissokho; Pjanic, Toulalan, Kallstrom; Govou, Gomis, Tafer.
Chances for both teams
Although there are no doubts the visitors have the more quality squad and are entering this game as the favorites, the hosts have their chances, too. Lens’ stadium is one of the toughest places to visit due to frenetic cheering and the home supporters. Besides, Lens is playing very brave and comfortable at home and will surely not be playing defensive. Another thing going in the hosts’ favor is the fact Lyon will be pretty weakened. All these prove that the final outcome should be skipped betting-wise, and I believe the goals won’t miss out, and that both teams will surely score. That directs me to the over bet. When I saw some bookies offer even above 2.10 for the over I didn’t wait any longer and took this bet for medium-high stakes, which I recommend to you as well.
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Prediction:
Tip: Over 2.5
Odd: 2.15
Bookie: Bet365
Stake: 7 /10
Tipster: KMan
