Montpellier vs Olympique Lyonnais 28/08/19

28 August 2019

Rocked by a slow start to the 2019/20 Ligue 1 (L1) campaign, Montpellier welcome Olympique Lyonnais to the Stade de la Mosson desperate to post their first league win over bitter rivals after seven consecutive failures (D3, L4).

The hosts have struggled to impress in the opening two rounds of the L1 fixtures (D1, L1), with both of those games featuring under 2.5 goals. As a result, they are now winless in their last four L1 outings (D2, L2), with none of those matches seeing Montpellier score or concede over 1.5 match goals. Still, a narrow 1-0 loss to Rennes in the L1 curtain-raiser has brought La Paillade’s six-game league unbeaten run at home (W3, D3). Interestingly, while all three of their wins across that period saw Montpellier score 2+ match goals, all of those stalemates have witnessed at least one goal on both ends. As things stand, it will be a daunting prospect for Montpellier to pick up a win against Lyon, as they’ve struggled to pull off a triumph in their last five L1 H2Hs here (D2, L3).

As for the visitors, they’ve started the new season with a bang, securing a 3-0 away win over AS Monaco before hammering Angers at home 6-0. A strong start to the season has helped Lyon to stretch their L1 unbeaten run to eight games (W7, D1). Furthermore, all eight of those matches have seen Les Gones score two or more goals, although just half of them (4) witnessed Sylvinho’s men keep a clean sheet. What’s more, they have not only racked up a four-game winning L1 away run, last season included, but they’ve also netted precisely three goals per match in each of those successes.