Lille will look to fight for a place in Europe once more as they travel to the Stade de l'Aube this weekend to face off against a Troyes side in desperate need of any points they can claim in the fight to stay in Ligue 1.
These two clubs have epitomised the incredibly close nature of this Ligue 1 season in their own right, as Lille are still able to finish as high as third despite sitting ninth right now, just as Troyes could move up to 14th with a win, or even drop into the relegation play-off position if they lose and other results go against them.
Léo Jardim doing Léo Jardim things 😏#LOSC | #LOSCRCSA | @Ligue1_ENG pic.twitter.com/w5hESdbM94— LOSC (@LOSC_EN) April 25, 2022
Léo Jardim doing Léo Jardim things 😏#LOSC | #LOSCRCSA | @Ligue1_ENG pic.twitter.com/w5hESdbM94
Last season's champions do have an awful lot of work to do if they are to make it into the European spots, however, and with Rennes in the final Champions League spot in third and ahead of Lille by eight points, they cannot afford to lose here and must hope the third-placed side lose to St-Etienne.
Jocelyn Gourvennec's men did also return to winning ways after a four-game winless run, as they defeated Strasbourg in what was one of their best results of the season with Mehmet Zeki Celik scored the game's only goal.
It has now put them within only six points of the Europa Conference League spot, and it has seemingly given the squad plenty of confidence in getting the job done here and challenging where they can to get into the European spots.
In reality, however, it has been an incredibly underwhelming season for Lille, as they officially forfeited their title last week to Paris Saint-Germain, and they now trail the champions by a whopping 27 points.
The club have also won just 13 games of the 34 so far, and with 42 goals scored and 40 conceded, it shows just how up-and-down they have been.
Troyes, though, haven't won since beating Reims back in early April, and Bruno Irles's men are now only two points above the relegation spot and six above the automatic relegation place of 19th.
It does still mean that fate is in their hands in the incredibly tight relegation battle, but with them scoring only 30 goals across the season to date, they remain well within the mixer - only Metz have scored fewer with 29.
It’s set to be a close game here with so much riding on it, and Forebet predicts a game of under 2.5 goals and a draw as Lille’s European dream likely comes to an end as a result.