France: Ligue 2: Racing Club Lens- Clermont
Hosts
are looking very solid in the top three and could open up a whopping
nine point lead over the 4th placed team with a win tonight. They travel
to play Caen, one of the few teams who could still catch them on
Saturday and so we can expect them to be looking for a maximum return
against Clermont. However, there is no telling if the 6-0 spanking at
Monaco in the Coupe de France quarter finals on Thursday has left any
scars and RCL have only won one of their last four at home, whilst
meeting teams with an average league placing of 12th.
Clermont are on an
unbeaten run of three games and come into this having not played for ten
days, so should be refreshed and well prepared.
Lens
are 8-8 ( goals scored -conceded) at home before the break , 13-4 after
it, Clermont are 7-5 on the road in the opening 45 minutes, a dismal
2-11 through the second half.
Those stats clearly
indicate that we can expect RCL to be the stronger of the two in the
second period and they might be happy to keep things tight early after
the events of Thursday evening. They are a very decent 5-2-1 when level at half time at home ( 9-6-2 including away starts), Clermont 0-2-4 on the road.
Lens get Alaeddine
Yahia ( 21-1-1) back in central defence, incredibly, in all
competitions, they have conceded 21 goals in 25 starts when Yahia plays,
27 in 10 without him, an increase of 1.86 goals per game , welcome back
! However, they are without centre back Ahmed Kantari ( 21-1-0),
midfielder Pierrick Valdivia (21-2-2) and a handful of longer term
injuries.
Clermont arrive
without centre back Cédric Avinel ( 23-1-1... no wins in six without
him), right back Anthony Lippini (17-0-0), defensive midfielder and
captain Eugène Ekobo ( 29-0-1 ...ever present........Clermont lost the
last four matches he missed last season), plus striker Grégory Bettiol (
20-4-1).
Definitely
advantage to Lens in terms of team news and they should win this, but
quotes of -0.75 ball 1.98 seems about right to me. I might take a little
if and when they reach 2.0 for the straight win "in running" , but I will be very happy to bet them at the break if we are all square and playing, as always 11 v 11.
Lens
: Areola, Riou - Baal, Gbamin, Landre, Tisserand, Touré, Yahia -
Bourigeaud, Cyprien, Le Moigne, Nomenjanahary, Salli - Chavarria,
Coulibaly, Ndiaye, Ljuboja, Touzghar.
Good Luck.
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