Clermont vs Lyon

With nothing but pride left to play for, Clermont and Lyon will trade tackles at the Stade Gabriel Montpied in their last game of the Ligue 1 season.

Despite slipping to a narrow 1-0 loss at Strasbourg last time out, newly-promoted Clermont have ensured top-flight football for another season with a game to spare. Interestingly, ‘Les Lanciers’ have secured survival even though they’ve lost a league second-high 19 Ligue 1 matches this term (W9, L9), including two of their last three without scoring (W1). However, Clermont ran out 2-1 winners against Montpellier in their most recent home Ligue 1 outing, halting a run of six home league games without a victory (D2, L4). Unfortunately, it means Pascal Gastien’s men head into proceedings having failed to keep a clean sheet in their last nine home league matches, which is worth mentioning following their dramatic 3-3 draw in the reverse fixture at the Groupama Stadium.

On the other hand, Lyon’s enthralling 3-2 home triumph over Nantes last time out made it three wins from four Ligue 1 fixtures (L1), yet it’s been too little, too late for Peter Bosz’s men. A thoroughly underwhelming season by Lyon’s high standards will culminate with another mid-table finish. Much of the credit for that has to go to the visitors’ sub-par performances on the road, which includes a run of one win from their last five away league matches (D2, L2). Yet, ‘Les Gones’ can draw confidence from their eye-catching 13-game unbeaten Ligue 1 streak against promoted sides (W8, D5) spanning back to a narrow 1-0 defeat to Reims in August 2018. Lyon should be bracing themselves for their worst Ligue 1 placement since 1996/97, as not even a win here may prove sufficient to help them avoid an embarrassing eighth-place finish.