Olympique Lyonnais vs Montpellier 17/03/19

17 March 2019

Desperate to bounce back after a Champions League fiasco, Olympique Lyonnais host Montpellier to the Groupama Stadium for a Ligue 1 showdown.

The hosts go into this meeting off the back of a humiliating 5-1 road loss to Barcelona in midweek’s Champions League clash. Five wins in their last eight Ligue 1 outings (W5, D1, L2) were enough to put Les Gones in the Champions League promotion territory, three points above fourth-placed Olympique de Marseille. Unbeaten in their last six home games across all competitions (W4, D2), Bruno Génésio’s players chase their fourth straight L1 home victory. Seven of ten of their previous competitive home encounters have produced over 2.5 goals because of their inability to keep a clean sheet and impressive displays in the final third. Génésio’s have bagged 2+ match goals six times in that period, notching an average of 1.9 goals scored per match.

Meanwhile, Montpellier’s drastic drop off in form has seen them tumble down the table as they currently sit seventh, with an eight-point deficit to their next rivals. The visitors have established themselves as the Ligue 1 ‘draw specialists’ this term. Of their 28 league outings, 43% have ended in a stalemate so far. Even though they’ve played out more draws than any other side in L1 (12), La Paillade’s games have been producing goals on both ends regularly, as five of those ties ended with a 1-1 scoreline, while four finished with a 2-2 scoreline. Although Michel Der Zakarian’s men pulled off a 2-1 win over Bordeaux on their last L1 road trip, they’ve failed to pick up all three points in six straight L1 road meetings before that (D4, L2).