The 2020/21 French Ligue 1 season begins this weekend and there are several fixtures to enjoy. One of which takes place on Sunday the 23rd of August as Nîmes Olympique meet Stade Brestois at the Stade des Costières.
Both teams survived in Ligue 1 last season but it was a close call for Nîmes Olympique, who finished in 18th place while Stade Brestois ended the shortened season in 14th.
Nîmes Olympique will be keen to get off to a good start this season with a home win. They struggled towards the end of the previous campaign as they lost 3 games in a row. The defeats came away at Rennes and Metz plus at home against Marseille. However, prior to that run of defeats Nîmes Olympique enjoyed 4 successive victories, including home wins against Angers and Dijon and Monaco.
Playing at home has produced 3 wins from their last 4 Ligue 1 matches. Trends show that Nîmes Olympique have won 3 of their last 6 home league matches by margin of 2 or more goals. In addition, there have been under 2.5 goals have been scored in 9 of Nîmes Olympique's last 12 home matches in Ligue 1.
Stade Brestois will be aiming for a great start to their new campaign by picking up an away win. However, they were struggling to pick up victories prior to the early end of the 2019/20 season. Stade Brestois managed to pick up just a single win in their final 7 league matches. The victory came at home against Saint-Etienne and following that game Stade Brestois won just 1 point from 9 available.
Away form was poor and Stade Brestois have won only one of their last 9 away Ligue 1 games. The win came at Toulouse back on the 11th of January and during those 9 games Stade Brestois lost 6 times. Scoring goals has been a problem away from home and trends show Stade Brestois failed to find the back of the net in 6 of their last 9 league matches on the road.
Conceding goals has also been an issue for Stade Brestois and they have kept just one clean sheet in their last 9 away Ligue 1 games.
Looking ahead to the team news and Nîmes Olympique should be at full strength for this game. Andrés Cubas and Yassine Benrahou are among those hoping to make their debut for the club.
Stade Brestois will travel without the injured duo of Denys Bain and Gaetan Charbonnier. Franck Honorat, Christophe Hérelle and Heriberto Tavares are all new additions to the squad.
Retrouvez prochainement vos Crocos préférés en .gif sur vos réseaux sociaux 📲 pic.twitter.com/Q4PXqchvQ6— Nîmes Olympique (@nimesolympique) August 18, 2020
Retrouvez prochainement vos Crocos préférés en .gif sur vos réseaux sociaux 📲 pic.twitter.com/Q4PXqchvQ6
Nîmes Olympique will be hoping to take advantage of the difficulties Stade Brestois were suffering away from home last season. Expect to see under 2.5 goals scored and the possibility of a home victory plus clean sheet for Nîmes Olympique.