Reims welcome Lille to Stade Auguste-Delaune for Sunday’s early Ligue 1 kick-off, with both sides looking to build on opening-day draws.
Despite racing into a two-goal lead inside 21 minutes, Reims eventually drew 2-2 with Monaco in their first game of 2020/21 last weekend.
Boulaye Dia and El Bilal Toure gave Reims a comfortable advantage, but Monac fought back with goals either side of half-time.
In fairness, Reims were probably happy to come away from Stade Louis II with a point after facing 22 shots and only seeing 23% possession.
Reims secure an admirable sixth-place finish last term, ending the campaign level with fifth-place nice on 41 points (1.46 points per game).
Remarkably, only bottom-club Toulouse (22) scored fewer Ligue 1 goals than Reims (26) last season. However, Reims boasted the best defensive record in the division, conceding just 21 goals in 28 games – three fewer than champions PSG.
Lille finished fourth in 2019/20, ending up two places and eight points ahead of Reims and only one point behind third-place Rennes.
Like Rennes, Lille didn’t score too many goals last term, finishing as the joint second-lowest scorers in the top nine. However, only three sides conceded fewer goals.
Lille returned to action with a high-action draw against Rennes, although they will probably be happy to have a point to their name.
Rennes racked up 16 shots last weekend, while Lille could only manage five. Jonathan Bamba have Lille to the lead, before Damien Da Silva snatched a point late on.
Head-to-head: These two sides only played against each other once last season, with Reims claiming a 2-0 victory over Lille back in September 2019.
Reims are now unbeaten in their previous three meetings with Lille, claiming one victory and two draws during that period. In fact, Lille have only clinched one win in their last five games against Reims.
Team news: Reims are likely to be without Anastasios Donis after the forward sustained an ankle injury last time out.
Lille will be hoping that Timothy Weah is close to returning to first-team. The forward has been missing since February with a hamstring problem.
Reims have only suffered one defeat in their last ten home games, although five of those results have been draws.
ℝ𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕪 𝕥𝕠 𝕗𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥 💪 pic.twitter.com/kqWdR5ADJR— LOSC (@losclive) August 26, 2020
ℝ𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕪 𝕥𝕠 𝕗𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥 💪 pic.twitter.com/kqWdR5ADJR
Lille have been strong on the road recently, winning six of their last eight away games in Ligue 1, so they are likely to pose Reims are few problems.
Forebet predicts that Reims and Lille will play out a low-scoring draw.