Angers vs Lyon
France Ligue 1
Date: Friday, 28th April 2017
Kick off at 19:45 UK / 20:45 CET
Venue: Stade Raymond Kopa, Angers.
Lyon have been overtaken in the race to qualify for next season’s Europa League and badly need a win when they travel to Angers on Friday night. The bad news is that they will probably need to do it without top scorer Alexandre Lacazette, who unfortunately suffered a leg injury in last Thursday’s nail-biting quarter-final second leg tie against Besiktas. Lacazaette has been the star man for Lyon all season and without him they do not look the same team. The hit-man scored his 31st goal of 2016/17 during the game as the Ligue 1 side eventually won through on penalties, but it came at a cost.
Lyon’s weekend defeat to division leaders Monaco meanwhile means that they have slipped to 5th place, a point behind Bordeaux, although they do have a game in hand. That game in hand will come in the final few weeks, after Lyon’s trip to Bastia was cancelled because of crowd violence. With a Europa League semi-final approaching against Dutch side Ajax as well, the fixtures are starting to pile up and it could take its toll on the squad.
Angers meanwhile face Guingamp on Tuesday evening for a place in the final of the French Cup. With home advantage they will see the game as a chance to turn their fortunes around after losing their past 4 games in a row. Admittedly, that run has featured games against Monaco and PSG, and while Angers are in no immediate danger of being dragged into the relegation places, they will need another win to make sure of safety.
With both sides in the middle of busy runs of games, we see this as being a close match. Our advice is to place on a bet of 2 or 3 Match Goals at odds of 21/20 with bet365.
For our correct score prediction we see Lyon edging the game 2-1. That bet is valued at odds of 15/2 also with bet365.
Angers vs Lyon: Head to Head Stats
There have been just 3 matches between the two with Lyon winning twice and Angers once. Earlier this season at Lyon the score ended 2-0 to Lyon. The last time the clubs played at Angers was in 2016 where Lyon ran out 3-0 winners. There is a 100% success rate that both teams will not score.
Angers vs Lyon: Prediction
Lyon has scored 5 goals with no reply in their last two games v Angers. Lyon needs this win whilst Angers would have played in mid-week and will still have that game on their minds. This will be a close match for long periods, but we will opt for the Lyon win.
Angers vs Lyon: Betting Tips
Lyon to beat Angers at 11/10
Monaco to score at least 2 goals at 13/5
