After what was an explosive and impressive start to the new French top flight season by Friday night’s hosts, Saint-Etienne, the hosts have since imploded in Ligue 1 and they’ll head into this upcoming clash against Angers desperately seeking to bounce back with a much-needed win here.
Early season victories against Lorient, Strasbourg (both at home) and most notably, a 2-0 win on the road at Marseille, seemed to promise a positive campaign for Saint-Etienne but the hosts have struggled to maintain their momentum and have failed to win any of their subsequent 10 matches overall.
📸 La #TeamASSE at work ! 🤜🤛 pic.twitter.com/XrVLECcxGr— AS Saint-Étienne (@ASSEofficiel) October 9, 2020
📸 La #TeamASSE at work ! 🤜🤛 pic.twitter.com/XrVLECcxGr
Within this poor 10-match sequence, Saint-Etienne have lost seven of these so the prospects of a home win here do seem remote especially as they’re without a home win from five matches (losing four) but the hosts have scored in four of their six home matches to date.
Angers will be hoping to register three wins on the trot on Friday night when they make their way to face a struggling Saint-Etienne outfit following recent back-to-back wins in Ligue 1 against Lens and Lorient, and the visitors may well sense that Saint-Etienne are here for the taking also.
The visitors have produced mixed results overall to date in this season’s Ligue 1 campaign having won seven, drawn one and lost five so far this term but they have had more joy on the road than in their own backyard at their Stade Raymond-Kopa.
Four of Angers’s total of seven wins have been picked up on their travels with victories at Dijon, Rennes, Nimes and Lens while five of their six away matches to date this season have also resulted in both teams scoring too.
In addition, even though Angers suffered heavy defeats away at Montpellier 4-1 and PSG 6-1 respectively, the visitors still managed to get on the scoresheet and this seems to bode well for this clash against the lesser mortals such as Saint-Etienne on Friday night.
Three of the previous four encounters have resulted in both teams hitting the back of the net.
Тhis trend could continue on Friday night at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, especially as both teams will be keen to add to their respective points tallies.