Lyon will start their new Ligue 1 campaign with a home fixture against last season’s strugglers, Brest, on Saturday afternoon when the two teams meet at the Groupama Stadium with the hosts looking to improve upon last season’s 4th place finish in the French top flight.
An unexpected 3-2 loss at home to Nice on the final day of last season resulted in Monaco pipping Lyon to the pos for the Champions League qualifier spot while Lyon have to make do with a spot in the Europa League this season.
Hard at work ahead of our @Ligue1_ENG opener in #OLSB29 on Saturday! ⚽️pic.twitter.com/6gmjJUSSg9— Olympique Lyonnais 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@OL_English) August 3, 2021
Hard at work ahead of our @Ligue1_ENG opener in #OLSB29 on Saturday! ⚽️pic.twitter.com/6gmjJUSSg9
Nevertheless, Lyon finished their campaign with five wins from their last seven games of the season which included victories over Angers, Nantes, Monaco, Lorient and Nimes.
Lyon’s final run-in at home last season though was hampered by inconsistency as the hosts won and lost in sequence in their last eight games at their Groupama Stadium which ultimately saw them miss out on a 3rd place finish.
However, Lyon hold a solid record against Brest as the hosts have never lost to their visitors in any of their previous 10 meetings.
Brest narrowly avoided the dreaded relegation/promotion play-off by the slender margin of just a single point as they finished fourth from bottom in last season’s Ligue 1 standings, and so they’ll be desperate to avoid another relegation battle this time around.
However, if Brest are to avoid battling amongst the lower reaches of the division this season then they must improve upon a poor finish last term which saw the visitors pick up just one win from their final 10 matches overall.
That solitary win came in the shape of a 2-1 win away from home at Saint-Etienne but also included five defeats as well, while four draws did little to improve their position towards the bottom of Ligue 1.
Brest did manage to pick up 11 wins throughout last season but eight of these 11 victories were achieved on home turf at their Stade Francis-Le Blé, while just three away wins throughout last season was a poor return on the road indeed.
Brest finished last term with just one away win from their last 13 matches on their travels and this upcoming trip to Lyon may well have Brest having their work cut out to get a result of any kind here.