Saint-Etienne vs Lorient

Saint-Etienne and Lorient are set to trade tackles at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in their 2021/22 Ligue 1 opener.

Despite being responsible for Saint-Etienne’s back-to-back bottom-half finishes, Claude Puel retained his position in the dugout. Their underwhelming 2020/21 season fizzled out with three straight Ligue 1 games that produced under 1.5 total goals each. In fact, the majority (55.26%) of St Etienne’s last season’s league matches featured under 2.5 goals, highlighting the potential for a cagey, low-scoring affair. Having that said, ‘Les Verts’ broke the deadlock by the 20th minute in both last season’s top-flight encounters against Lorient but went on to win just one of them (W1, L1). Indeed, St Etienne’s inability to hold onto the lead saw them win just over 50% of the Ligue 1 fixtures in which they opened the scoring last season (GP19 – W10, D4, L4). Curiously, none of their previous six home league games have ended level (W2, L4).

On the other hand, Lorient endured a torrid comeback Ligue 1 campaign last season, finishing 16th, only two points clear of the relegation play-off spot. A disappointing record when hitting the road as an underdog took much credit for Lorient’s disappointing season, with ‘Les Merlus‘ claiming just a single win from 17 such fixtures (D6, L10). Lorient’s propensity for sluggish away starts saw them concede a league-high 11 goals within the opening 30 minutes of road action last season. Well, that’s not the end of the visitors’ problems, knowing they managed just a single clean sheet in 18 Ligue 1 travels back in 2020/21, unsurprisingly against rock-bottom Dijon. A draw looks seemingly off the table here, considering none of Lorient’s last 12 top-flight trips to St Etienne have finished level (W4, L8).