The second round of fixtures in the 2020/21 French Ligue 1 season kick off this weekend. There are several matches taking place on Sunday the 30th of August including the game between FC Nantes and Nîmes Olympique.
The match will take place at the Stade de la Beaujoire with the hosts beginning the weekend in 10th place with one point and the visitors in first place with 3 points.
FC Nantes started the new campaign with a 0-0 draw at Bordeaux last week. It was a decent point away from home although FC Nantes should have taken advantage of the fact Bordeaux played with ten men from the 20th minute onwards. However, having finished last season with two straight defeats, FC Nantes will be pleased to get off the mark with a draw away from home.
Last season was ended prematurely and FC Nantes were struggling to win matches at home. In fact, they have failed to win any of their last 5 home league games. Four of those matches ended in defeat and there was a single draw against Metz and that game ended 0-0.
Trends show FC Nantes have failed to score a goal in their last 3 league games and there have been under 2.5 goals scored in those 3 matches. In addition, FC Nantes have failed to score a goal in 3 of their last 4 home Ligue 1 games.
Nîmes Olympique could not have asked for a better start to their season having defeated Brest 4-0 at home. They opened the scoring after only 8 minutes, with one further goal coming in the first half and two more goals in the second half without reply. It was an important victory for Nîmes Olympique who was struggling towards the end of last season, losing 3 matches in succession.
Away form last season was poor and Nîmes Olympique managed to win only one of their last 8 away Ligue 1 games. There was just a single victory in those 8 matches and it came at Nice. However, despite struggling to keep clean sheets, Nîmes Olympique were scoring goals on the road, finding the back of the net in each of their last 5 away league games.
Interestingly, Nîmes Olympique have achieved a run of 4 wins by 2 or more goals in their 8 most recent games in Ligue 1.
Team news and FC Nantes could see the return of Renaud Emond from injury but Anthony Limbombe is still on the treatment table.
Nîmes Olympique do not have any injury or suspension concerns so should be at full strength for this match.
Both teams have been having their difficulties at home and away respectively but Nîmes Olympique will be riding high following their comprehensive victory last week. That boost to their confidence could be enough to make the difference and we could see an away victory and a clean sheet for the visitors.