Nantes vs Nice
French Ligue 1
Date: Saturday, 18th March, 2017
Kick off at 16:00 UK Time
Venue: La Beaujoire, Nantes
Nice cannot afford to have any more slip ups if they are to stay neck and neck with Monaco and PSG at the top of Ligue 1 when they visit Nantes this weekend. Nice visit Nantes off the back of a disappointing 2-2 draw at home to Caen last Friday, a result which saw them eventually fall 5 points behind Monaco in the race for the championship. They are still very much in the hunt for the title but will need to pick up 3 points from games such as this if they are to seriously challenge.
Top scorer Alassane Plea is again expected to miss out through injury, so responsibility for leading the attack will again be for former Inter Milan, Liverpool and AC Milan forward and Italy international Mario Balotelli, who has managed to revive his career since moving to France. The strong and effective striker has so far managed to bag 10 goals and if he could score another 5 before the end of the season it could help to at least get Nice into the top 2 in the division.
Nantes recorded an excellent 3-2 victory away to Montpellier in the last round of matches, which was a welcome boost following a 4-0 hammering at Monaco the week before. Nantes have had a very solid season despite only scoring 27 goals in 29 matches so far in 2016/17. Their defence has not been brilliant either, having conceded 43 times. They are virtually safe from relegation however, with the side currently 9 points above the Ligue 1 drop zone.
This is another game we expect to be close, but one which the title-chasers will come out on top in. With Balotelli in good form and expected to start, our advice is to back him to score at any time during the game at odds of 13/8 with bet365.
For our correct score prediction, we see the game finishing 2-1 to the away side. That bet is valued at 11/1 also with bet365.
Nantes vs Nice: Head to Head Stats
From the last 7 games played at Nantes they have won this fixture 6 times. 55% of games this century have seen just one team score. From the 10 games played at Nantes this century, Nice have won just two times, with 7 Nantes wins and one draw.
Nantes vs Nice: Prediction
Nice have won their last two away games but they were against Lorient and Dijon. This game will be incredibly difficult for them and Nantes are in a good period. Nantes has scored 6 goals in their last two home games. We won’t go for the home team though but we should witness goals.
Nantes vs Nice: Betting Tips
Both teams to score at 21/20
Anytime goal scorer: Mario Balotelli (Nice) at 2/1.
