Lille vs Nice

Lille will launch their home Ligue 1 campaign in 2021/22 as they welcome Nice to the Stade Pierre-Mauroy this weekend.

Late strikes from Jonathan Ikoné and Burak Yılmaz propelled Lille to a hard-earned 3-3 draw against Metz on the opening weekend of the Ligue 1 season. That ties in with Lille’s bounce-back ability from last season that saw them rescue a second-best average of 1.13 points per Ligue 1 match in which they trailed at half-time (W2, D2, L3). However, an underwhelming home form requires an improvement, with ‘Les Dogues‘ picking up just two wins from their last seven home league fixtures (D4, L1). Curiously, one of those victories came against Nice, as the hosts now look to win consecutive top-flight H2Hs for the first time since 1996. Since going down 2-1 in April 2017, the reigning Ligue 1 champions have racked up a three-game unbeaten home league streak against this opposition (W2, D1), keeping a clean sheet in the last two in a row.

In the meantime, Nice started the new season with a whimper rather than a bang, playing out a dismal scoreless draw with relegation candidates Reims at home. Nice’s Matchday 2 trip pits Christophe Galtier against the side he led to the Ligue 1 crown last season. However, Galtier’s overall H2H record against his former employers is not inspiring (W5, D5, L7). Additionally, the highly-rated manager has failed to pick up all three points in his last seven top-flight visits to Lille (D4, L3), with six of those encounters yielding a full-time margin of under 1.5 goals. On the bright side, though, the visitors have not lost any of their previous three away Ligue 1 openers (W2, D1). That said, none of Nice’s last four league trips have ended level (W2, L2).