Saint-Etienne begin their new Ligue 1 campaign with a home fixture against Lorient who ended up occupying a place in the lower reaches of the domestic top flight while their hosts finished in a reasonable mid-table position.
Saint-Etienne finished the last campaign in 11th place in Ligue 1 and although their season overall was held back by inconsistent results, the hosts recorded wins against 8th placed Montpellier and 5th placed Marseille towards the end of the season along with holding the eventual Ligue 1 title-winners, Lille, to a 0-0 draw away from home.
🔊 Vos chants🗣 Vos cris💚 Vos cœurs🏟 Notre Chaudron𝘼𝙫𝙚𝙘 𝙫𝙤𝙪𝙨, 𝙘̧𝙖 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙩𝙤𝙪𝙩 🔥 #WELCOMEBACK pic.twitter.com/2vH1GLAGbd— AS Saint-Étienne (@ASSEofficiel) August 3, 2021
🔊 Vos chants🗣 Vos cris💚 Vos cœurs🏟 Notre Chaudron𝘼𝙫𝙚𝙘 𝙫𝙤𝙪𝙨, 𝙘̧𝙖 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙩𝙤𝙪𝙩 🔥 #WELCOMEBACK pic.twitter.com/2vH1GLAGbd
The hosts will therefore be seeking a more consistent season this time around especially on home soil at their Stade Geoffroy-Guichard where they finished up with a home record of W5 D6 L8 at the end of last term.
Within their five home wins last season, Saint-Etienne recorded a 2-0 home win against their upcoming opponents, Lorient, in their first home game of the season and the two will lock horns again on Sunday afternoon.
Lorient finished last season’s Ligue 1 campaign just two league positions and two points above the relegation play-off spot, so they too will be looking for an improvement upon results this term.
Lorient also finished last season in reasonable form as the visitors registered three wins from their final five games of the season with victories over Bordeaux, Angers and Metz, which ultimately helped save them from being dragged down into the relegation play-off spot or worse.
However, although Lorient picked up a total of 11 wins throughout the season, 10 of these wins were accrued on home soil at their Stade Yves Allainmat, while on the road, Lorient really struggled to get going.
Indeed, Lorient managed to collect just one win on their travels throughout the whole of last season’s Ligue 1 campaign which came in the form of a 3-1 win at Reims, but they then slumped in dramatic fashion, failing to win any of their subsequent 15 matches on the road.
Saint-Etienne have won the previous five meetings at home on the trot against Lorient and although this is the first match of the season, the hosts can be backed with the draw no bet handicap here at reasonable odds.