Gameweek 10 opens with the southern clash of Lyon and Toulouse. Lyon have lost 4 on the spin in Ligue 1 and defeat to Les Violets would surely see Peter Bosz’s tenure come to an end. Lille vs Lens completes a week that sees PSG travel to Reims and Marseille entertain Ajaccio.
Montpellier Vs Monaco
Sun 9th 12:00 GMT
Montpellier conceded four to new boys Toulouse in a 4-2 defeat last week. There is some optimism that Jonas Omlin will be back for the visit of Monaco, not that any of the goals from last week were the fault of backup goalkeeper Bingourou Kamara. Conceding four goals from four attempts on target won’t do much for the confidence of the joint 3rd worst defence in Ligue 1 though. There is also some hope that Maxime Esteve and Faitout Maouassa will return, further reducing the injury crisis that has plagued La Paillade for the past number of weeks.
Monaco are on a four game winning streak coming into this game and had a relatively comfortable victory over Trabzonspor in the Europa League on Thursday evening. Wissam Ben Yedder has repeated last seasons early form – slow to start, electric at times – and now has 6 goals in the past 3 games. Whilst Montpellier should be in a better position defensively than last week, they’re ultimately too easy to score against, a trait Ben Yedder will enjoy. Monaco have only kept 2 clean sheets in 9 Ligue 1 outings so far this season. Both teams to score with an away win looks a highly likely outcome here.
Monaco to win & both teams to score @ 21/10
Brest Vs Lorient
Sun 9th 14:00 GMT
The home sides poor form continued last week with a draw at Auxerre. On paper it’s not a bad result but they played against 10 men for 38+ minutes. For most of that period they weren’t even the better side. If Franck Honorat isn’t on-song then Brest tend not to perform and the wing wizard has started the season very timidly by his own standards. Having the joint 3rd worst defence and 6th worst offence makes having any confidence in this current Brest side a tough ask at the moment.
Les Merius made it five wins in a row with a 2-1 victory over Lille. Previously they had a history of being poor travelers with an over reliance on points at Le Moustoir. This season they have (W3 D1 L1) record on the road with the sole loss being at Lens (the home side are nowhere near that level). Their home stadium is indeed a fortress again and Lorient sit a mightily impressive 3rd after the opening 9 games. That they are over 2/1 almost everywhere for a win is surprising given that an away win appears to be the most likely result of the game.
Lorient to win @ 11/5
Clermont Vs Auxerre
Sun 9th 14:00 GMT
Going from a relegation ‘certainty’ to a solid mid table side is an amazing turnaround for Clermont. Pascal Gastien appears to one of those rare man-managers who gets that extra 10-15% from players that few others can. A prime example of this is journeyman goalkeeper, Mory Diaw. After spells with PSG B team, Portuguese 3rd tier, Swiss 3rd tier, Diaw is now only surpassed by Gianluigi Donnarumma in terms of average rating for Ligue 1 goalkeepers on WhoScored.com this season. That’s a solid base for Les Lanciers to start from in this game.
After a solid start of 7pts from 12, AJA have only 1 from the last 15. Without veteran Gaetan Charbonnier, the Auxerre attack has struggled to adapt. Sometimes a defence short of confidence (and quality) needs to be bailed out now and again, it’s hard to see it with the away sides current squad. Clermont’s lack of goals might be a worry in this one but if they get a lead, I’m not sure Auxerre have enough to get back on terms. A Home win shouldn’t be odds against here.
Clermont to win @ 11/10
Smart Bets
Monaco to win & both teams to score @ 21/10 (1pt)
Lorient to win @ 11/5 (3pt)
Clermont to win @ 11/10 (2pt)
Above in treble (best priced): 19/1 (1pt win)
