Sunday’s hosts, Saint-Etienne, will be desperate to produce an improved showing in this season’s French Ligue 1 campaign as they ended up in a disappointing fourth from bottom on the Ligue 1 ladder and just two places above the relegation zone.
Saint-Étienne at least hold home advantage at their Stade Geoffroy-Guichard for their season-opener against newly-promoted Lorient and the hosts will be hoping that they can wipe the slate clean and forget about their slump in form towards the end of the last campaign.
A miserable run of just one win from their final 12 matches resulted in Saint-Etienne sliding down the Ligue One table in free-fall mode with just a 2-1 home win against third from bottom outfit, Nimes to show for their troubles.
Nine defeats from these 12 matches show how dire Saint-Etienne’s situation became, while at home, the hosts managed just one win from their last six matches. Goals weren’t exactly in abundance either as nine out of Saint-Etienne’s 14 home matches (64%) resulted in under 2.5 goals being scored.
Onto Lorient, and the visitors will also be keen to start their travels in this new Ligue 1 season on a positive note following their triumphant promotion campaign from Ligue 2 at the end of last season, as the visitors will be keen to build upon last weekend’s 3-1 home win against Strasbourg.
It’s been three seasons since Lorient last found themselves in Ligue 1 but will head to Saint-Etienne with a valuable boost of confidence after last week’s emphatic win on home turf at their Stade Yves Allainmat.
However, despite gaining automatic promotion from Ligue 2 last term, Lorient’s results away from home were inconsistent towards the end of the campaign with three defeats in their final five matches on the road.
Defeats at Valenciennes, Guingamp and Ajaccio will have been duly noted by both Lorient and indeed, Saint-Etienne, and although the ratio of matches that finished under 2.5 goals was seven out of 15 matches (a touch under 50%), Lorient will be mindful that they must keep things tight at the back in this first away match of the season.
In addition, six of the previous eight encounters between these two teams have resulted under 2.5 goals, so we could have another low-scoring affair on our hands this Sunday.