Lyon vs Montpellier

Groupama Stadium is the venue as Lyon and Montpellier go head-to-head in a tasty-looking Ligue 1 fixture.

Lyon’s dreadful run of four pre-season defeats ‘to nil’ issued an ominous warning to under-fire boss Laurent Blanc ahead of Les Gones’ effort to end a three-year absence from European football. However, a 2-1 defeat at last season’s relegation-battling Strasbourg on the opening weekend raised further doubts about Lyon’s continental credentials. To their defense, the former Ligue 1 champions attempted 23 shots in that game, highlighting a lack of efficiency as a genuine issue. Back at the Groupama Stadium, the home side will be confident of making amends for last weekend’s heartache, having lost only once in their nine previous home league outings (W5, D3). Moreover, Lyon ended the 2022/23 Ligue 1 campaign on an impressive run of three straight home wins by an aggregate score of 11-5!

On the other hand, Montpellier conceded a 90th-minute equalizer in a topsy-turvy 2-2 home draw against newly-promoted Le Havre on matchday one, allowing their defensive woes to impede their progress again. Including their indifferent five-game pre-season form (W2, D2, L1), Michel Der Zakarian’s men have failed to keep a clean sheet across their last eight outings! Topically, they have conceded precisely five goals on their two most recent visits to Lyon (L2), including an unbelievable 5-4 defeat in this corresponding H2H in 2022/23 that saw them waste a 4-1 lead! But ‘Le Paillade’ have since won back-to-back away league games, scoring precisely three goals on both occasions. Still, after losing their last four top-flight meetings with Lyon, Montpellier won’t dare to dream big here.