Two sides at either end of the Ligue 1 spectrum this season meet on Friday with Lens and Loreint doing battle at the Estadio Bollaert-Delelis where Forebet is back for more analysis on these football predictions and the probability of winning.
The data and mathematics for these two sides read completely different to how things were last season between Lens and Lorient.
Lens battle Paris Saint-Germain for the Ligue 1 title all campaign long in 2022/23, and after being behind them by seven points towards the final few games, the club cut the gap down to one in the final standings.
𝑺𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒕 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍 en vue 👀#FierDEtreLensois #RCLFCL pic.twitter.com/77xfGOYDRd— Racing Club de Lens (@RCLens) April 30, 2024
𝑺𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒕 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍 en vue 👀#FierDEtreLensois #RCLFCL pic.twitter.com/77xfGOYDRd
Now, however, Lens come into this game off the back of a topsy-turvy season across the board that saw them perform awfully in Europe, lose in the Europa League playoffs too, while also exiting the French Cup at the first time of asking in the round of 64 to Monaco.
Last season's runners-up are now coming into this game slightly better than they were earlier in the campaign where they struggled to get into the top half.
Nevertheless, a spot in the Champions League is mathematically impossible, as is a place in the Europa League too with there being huge gaps on those positions and only nine points left up for grabs.
Lens are still behind Nice in fifth by just five points, however, so there is still a chance they can end up in the Europa Conference League, but once more, this seems unlikely.
Form has also been poor as of late too, with them securing only one win in the past five games.
This victory came over the struggling Clermont Foot at home, as Florian Sotoca scored a penalty inside three minutes to grab the game's only goal.
Other results in this run for Franck Haise's men has seen them lose to LOSC Lille, draw with Le Havre and lose to Metz and Marseille, with the latter being the most recent.
As for Lorient, it’s been a long and hard season for them and they come into the game down in the relegation zone and behind the safe spot of 15th by three points and adrift of the relegation playoffs spot of 16th by three points too.
Ultimately, Lorient could be relegated back into Ligue 2 by the end of next weekend, should results go against them. For this week’s action, Forebet predicts another loss for them and under 2.5 goals.