Lyon and Marseille in search of lost points
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Lyon, which hosts Lens, runner-up to Paris SG, and Marseille, traveling to Clermont, are looking for success this weekend during the 12th day of Ligue 1, after having dropped points in recent weeks.
. Poster: Lyon-Lens
“We lost points stupidly,” admitted Jean-Michel Aulas on Wednesday. “We will deal with it,” assured the president of Olympique Lyonnais in the process. Beaten on the edge in Nice 3-2 on Sunday after leading 2-0, OL again showed mental fragility. The Lyonnais have won only one of their last four games in the Championship and are only in 9th place. Peter Bosz’s players still remain within reach of the Champions League, five points behind the second place occupied by Lens, their opponent on Saturday (9 p.m.). But to stay in the race, OL will have to win against the Sang et Or who approached this meeting by being better classified than their opponent from Rhone, for the first time in 18 years.
. The number: 1
Marseille no longer wins. In its last eight games all combined, OM (4th in L1) has won only once, against Lorient (4-1), on October 17. Since then, Jorge Sampaoli’s team has tied three draws, the last against Nice (1-1), in a match replayed behind closed doors in Troyes on Wednesday. But in Clermont on Sunday (8:45 p.m.), Marseille intends to rely on the good draw (0-0) obtained against PSG at the Vélodrome last Sunday and the reconstituted duo Arkadiusz Milik-Dimitri Payet. OM, who have scored only one but in the last three games, will need the offensive talent of both players, even if Payet, 34, seemed less spirited against Nice despite his but equalizer. “For us, who play almost every 48 hours, it’s difficult to maintain consistency in attack,” said Jorge Sampaoli.
. The player: Gaëtan Laborde
Unstoppable: with 4 goals in the last 5 days of the championship, Rennais Gaëtan Laborde is the striker in form of the moment. At the top of the scorers ranking with Lille’s Jonathan David (7 goals), the former Montpellier in one also registered two in the Europa League Conference. With nine goals in all competitions, he is well advanced on his split times last season (two goals at the same time). In Troyes, 15th and conceded 15 goals, Laborde will have the opportunity on Sunday (3:00 p.m.) to further improve its statistics.
. The duel of fear: Metz-Saint-Etienne
The penultimate against the last: woe to the loser of the Metz-Saint-Etienne match on Saturday (5:00 p.m.). If the Garnets underwent a correction in Lens last Sunday (4-1), the Greens pulled off a draw against Angers (2-2), at the end of a match that started with an hour late at Geoffroy-Guichard , due to incidents caused by the ultras from Saint-Etienne. A point won in the mind in additional time as in the derby against Lyon (1-1). But Claude Puel’s team has still not won a match since the start of the season. Faced with a direct competitor in maintenance, little better off with only one victory, the first Saint-Etienne success is more than ever expected.
© 2021 AFP