The Sunday action in the French top flight continues with this encounter between 2nd placed Nice and bottom half outfit, Clermont, when the two teams meet at the Allianz Riviera with Nice looking to further consolidate their 2nd place position in Ligue 1.
Following a recent hiccup which saw Nice stumble to defeats against Metz and Strasbourg, both of which were on home soil at their Allianz Riviera, Nice have since managed to re-group as the hosts have recorded five league wins on the trot in the domestic top flight.
💪 Back to work and preparation for #OGCNCF63 👊🦅 pic.twitter.com/m9pryxLZoQ— OGC Nice 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@ogcnice_eng) February 3, 2022
💪 Back to work and preparation for #OGCNCF63 👊🦅 pic.twitter.com/m9pryxLZoQ
Victories over Rennes, Lens, Brest, Nantes and Metz have seen Nice emerge as the second of the two teams likely to claim the Champions league spots but the hosts know they must keep winning in order to stake their claim.
Previously, Nice had slumped to three home defeats on the trot, losing to Montpellier, Metz and Strasbourg but they’ve bounced back by posting back-to-back wins over Lens and Nantes to give them a boost prior to this weekend’s fixtures.
Nice manager, Cristophe Galtier, has no fresh injury worries and is expected to name a fully-fit squad.
Clermont find themselves languishing in the lower depths of Ligue 1 in 15th place and just two points above the relegation play-off spot incumbents, Metz, prior to this tough looking trip to face high-flying Nice on Sunday.
Despite recording a 2-1 home win over Rennes last time out in Ligue 1, that victory has only been Clermont’s second win in their last 12 matches overall in the domestic top tier, the other being a 1-0 win on the road at 12th placed Angers.
Within this fairly poor sequence of results, Clermont have also succumbed to eight defeats within this 12-match spell which doesn’t bode well for a visit to face a Nice outfit who are pushing to claim the second spot in Ligue 1 and Champions League football for next season.
Despite a bright start on their travels where they recorded a 2-0 win away at Bordeaux, Clermont have claimed just one further win on the road in their subsequent 10 games, losing seven of these 10 matches, keeping just two clean sheets and failing to score in five of these games also.
Clermont will also be without the services of Allevinah, Bayo and Khaoui on international duty along with injuries to Billong and Ogier.
Nice therefore look set for the three points here.