The ultimate Ligue 1 round ahead of the mid-season break kicks off on Friday as Lyon and Nice go head-to-head at the Groupama Stadium.
Without the distraction of European football following last season’s dreadful eighth-place finish, Lyon had high ambitions for this campaign, but nothing is going according to plan.
Despite flying out of the traps with four triumphs from the inaugural five Ligue 1 matches (D1), Les Gones have run out of steam midway through the season.
Not even axing underperforming boss Peter Bosz in early October helped Lyon rediscover their feet, with new chief of staff Laurent Blanc still trying to reinvigorate the fallen giants.
A hard-earned 1-0 win over fellow top-four hopefuls Lille in their latest Ligue 1 game at the Groupama Stadium offered the home faithful a glimmer of hope that Les Gones can still save this faltering season.
However, the optimism was swiftly curtailed by a 1-0 defeat at Marseille last weekend, leaving Blanc’s side a whopping eight points off the top-three pace.
Visiting Nice would like to take all three points and Lyon’s place in the Ligue 1 standings by avenging a 2-0 loss in this corresponding fixture last season, with just a point separating the sides at the start of this round.
Since a somewhat expected capitulation at Paris Saint-Germain at the beginning of October, Lucien Favre’s men have gone into overdrive, clocking up a five-game unbeaten league run in the aftermath (W3, D2).
Unfortunately for the under-pressure 65-year-old manager, not even a noticeable upturn in form has helped Nice undo a woeful Ligue 1 start, barely proving enough for mid-table comforts.
Match Preview
Lyon
After scoring at least twice in nine consecutive home league matches, Lyon have netted under 1.5 goals in their last three top-flight outings at the Groupama Stadium (W1, D1, L1).
That probably best illustrates the size of the problems Blanc has to deal with promptly if Les Gones are to strengthen their bid to avoid another sub-standard league campaign.
Speaking of issues, Lyon’s underwhelming record of six defeats in the opening 14 Ligue 1 rounds accounts for their joint-worst loss tally at this point of the season in the 21st century.
Nice
Les Aiglons have blown hot and cold across their last three Ligue 1 road trips (W1, D1, L1), with both results (win/loss) during this sequence yielding an identical 2-1 scoreline.
Indeed, consistency has been the elephant in the room during Favre’s topsy-turvy managerial tenure at the Allianz Riviera, with Nice lamenting an indifferent away form on their first seven league travels (W3, D2, L2).
Though the visitors haven’t lost back-to-back Ligue 1 fixtures at Lyon since 2013, they could now unless they keep the tradition that has seen their last five top-flight games at this venue fluctuating between wins and losses going (W2, L3).
Lyon vs Nice Potential Line-ups
Lyon (4-1-3-2): Anthony Lopes; Nicolas Tagliafico, Castello Lukeba, Jerome Boateng, Malo Gusto; Thiago Mendes; Tete, Maxence Caqueret, Romain Faivre; Alexandre Lacazette, Moussa Dembele.
Nice (4-4-2): Kasper Schmeichel; Youcef Atal, Jean-Clair Todibo, Dante, Jordn Lotomba; Hicham Boudaoui, Mario Lemina, Khephren Thuram, Sofiane Diop; Nicolas Pepe, Gaetan Laborde.
How to Watch?
Lyon vs Nice, coupled with all other Ligue 1 fixtures, is available to watch online via Ligue 1 live streams.
Lyon vs Nice Prediction
With Lyon’s last eight league matches being decided by a full-time margin of under 1.5 goals, there’s a feeling that whoever scores first may claim three points in the end.
Both sides boast a wealth of attacking potential and are quite prone to making silly mistakes at the back, so it’s hard to tell who’s going to blink first.
If we need to give someone a better chance, it would be Lyon, but only due to the home support.
Lyon 2-1 Nice
