Last season’s 4th placed finishers, Lille, will be looking to at least replicate their efforts from last term in this campaign and the hosts still remain unbeaten as they prepare for the upcoming visit from Metz to their Stade Pierre-Mauroy this Sunday lunchtime.
Lille claimed the last European spot and automatic entry into this season’s Europa League by finishing in 4th place at the end of the previous campaign and they’ve made a solid start to this new term with a 1-1 draw at home with Rennes and then following that up with a valuable 1-0 win away from home at Reims last time out.
𝘓𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘥𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘭𝘦 𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘳 ⚽ pic.twitter.com/CmbdKsOiFW— LOSC (@losclive) September 9, 2020
𝘓𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘥𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘭𝘦 𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘳 ⚽ pic.twitter.com/CmbdKsOiFW
Sunday’s hosts finished last season with a flourish as they recorded three wins on the trot to claim the Europa League spot after they beat Toulouse, Nantes and Lyon and they’ll once again be turning to their form on home turf at their Stade Pierre-Mauroy for this campaign after suffering just two defeats throughout last season.
Lille are also unbeaten in their last two meetings at home against Metz and will be keen to extend this run on Sunday.
Onto Metz, and the visitors finished last season’s Ligue 1 campaign in 15th place but at least avoided being dragged into the relegation battle below them as they held a comfortable 11-point cushion above the bottom two at the end of the season.
Back-to-back wins against Amiens and Nimes at the end of last term was a good way to end their season but they’ve started this new Ligue 1 season with a disappointing 1-0 defeat at home to Monaco and they now face a tricky looking trip to face Lille this Sunday.
Although they picked up just three wins on the road all season last term, Metz are unbeaten in their last five matches on their travels in Ligue 1 which includes wins at Reims and Amiens along with points picked up at Dijon, Montpellier and Nantes.
Indeed, Metz have lost just one of out of their last eight matches on the road in the French top flight but it should be noted that the visitors only played one of the top four teams away from home last season as the season was cut short due to the lockdown.
The greater quality in this Lille outfit though may be too much for Metz in this clash.