Strasbourg-Lille preview: the Mastiffs find their bite
RC Strasbourg – LOSC
– Kick off: 19:00 GMT
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Lille were beaten home and away by northern rivals RC Lens last season and were knocked out of the Coupe de France by them in the round of 16, but they finally secured a victory on the board last Sunday.
Jonathan David’s penalty – his team-record seventh goal of the season – was enough to separate the teams at Stade Pierre-Mauroy, while Adam Ounas and Lucas Chevalier put in outstanding performances, the latter saving a shot foot from Florian Sotoca.
Knight, a knight shining in armor
Ounas and Chevalier in particular represent a changing of the guard at Lille, with Ounas signing from Napoli in the summer to inject imagination into the midfield and Chevalier dropping off Léo Jardim as the team’s No.1.
Look: The best moments of Lille’s 1-0 win over Lens
Lille are seventh with the win, four points behind AS Monaco who sit fifth and last in Europe, and the team is starting to take shape under Christophe Galtier’s successor, Paulo Fonseca.
“We were very focused on this game, we knew it was going to be difficult,” the Portuguese tactician said of the Lens game before turning his attention to Strasbourg. “We won, but now the most important thing is to think about Strasbourg. We start tomorrow, it’s important to get victories and maintain the balance in the group.”
Gomes in place of Gomés at No.10?
Fonseca is however deprived of a pair of first-choice players on Friday, with Bafodé Diakité and Angel Gomés and suspended. Akim Zedadka is set to replace the former at right-back, while Jonas Martin is likely to replace Gomes, freeing up his namesake André Gomes – a summer arrival on loan from Everton – to play at No.10.
Strasbourg have not beaten Lille since December 2018, when Youssouf Fofana – now a full French international with Monaco – and Dimitri Liénard scored in a 2-0 win at Stade de la Meinau but shrugged off a hexagon to them last Sunday, beating Angers SCO 3-2 for their first victory of the season.
Look: The best moments of Strasbourg’s 3-2 win at Angers
Head coach Julien Stéphan missed the game with COVID but is expected to be back for the visit from Lille. Mathieu Le Scornet, who took over the team alongside Jean-Marc Kuentz in his absence, was relieved by the victory, which lifted Racing from the table leg to the 14th.
The Scornet: “get some fresh air”
“It was like getting some fresh air,” he said. “This win gives us a bit more confidence. We endured weaker moments that we should have handled better, but not everything can be as easy as we imagined before the game.”
Strasbourg are without strikers Ludovic Ajorque and Lebo Mothiba with chest and thigh injuries respectively, with Kevin Gameiro and Habib Diallo in the lead. Gerzino Nyamsi is back from suspension, meanwhile, but he could find himself on the bench with Lucas Perrin, Alexander Djiku and Maxime Le Marchand favored at the back.
Possible teams
Strasbourg: salts; Perrin, Djiku, The Merchant; Dagba, Sissoko, Prcic, Bellegarde, Liénard; Gameiro, Diallo
Lille: Knight; Zedadka, Fonte, Djalo, Ismaïly; Andre, Martin; Ounas, E. Gomes, Bamba; David