Montpellier vs Reims

Stade de la Mosson hosts an exciting Ligue 1 game between Montpellier and Reims.

Montpellier might have had to fight back from a halftime deficit to hold newly-promoted Le Havre to a 2-2 home draw on the opening weekend, but two goals on either side of halftime inspired them to a scintillating 4-1 romping of Lyon last time out. After going unbeaten in their opening two matches of a new Ligue 1 season for the first time in 11 years, Montpellier will be confident about extending their five-match unbeaten top-flight run against Reims (W1, D4). However, Michel Der Zakarian’s side cannot afford to take this fixture lightly, considering their last home league win over Reims dates back to 2015. Since then, they’ve gone winless in four consecutive top-flight H2Hs at the Stade de la Mosson (D2, L2), conceding precisely four goals twice in that sequence.

In the meantime, visiting Reims suffered a 2-1 defeat at Olympique Marseille in their curtain-raising Ligue 1 clash but recovered with a 2-0 home win over Clermont Foot last weekend despite being forced to play under extreme weather conditions. With temperatures exceeding 40 degrees in France this past week, manager Will Still went public to complain about the schedule. However, there’s no time for off-field distractions if the visitors are to defy their underwhelming 11-game form in Ligue 1 (W2, D2, L7). Coming into this match-up as underdogs, Reims won’t hope much, given that they only managed one win in 11 away league matches they started as outsiders last term (D6, L4).