Bastia vs Montpellier Predictions, Betting Tips and Match Previews

17^th placed Bastia will be out to end a run of five games without a win when they square off against 13^th placed Montpellier at Stade Armand Cesari this Saturday evening.

The Corsicans have so far failed to build upon a solid 10^th place finish last term and manager Francois Ciccolini will be on borrowed time unless results start to improve soon, despite the 54-year-old’s sound input in the second half of the 2015/16 campaign having taken over in January.

With just one point mustered from a possible 15 in recent weeks, the hosts are hovering dangerously above the bottom three and could well find themselves in the relegation zone come the end of the weekend, should they fail to beat a Montpellier side who have steadied their own ship since suffering a 6-2 drubbing to Monaco in mid-October.

Frederic Hantz’ men signed off for the international break with a fabulous 3-1 success at home to Marseille, thanks largely to a double salvo from top scorer Ryad Boudebouz.  However, the influential Algerian international will be missing for the foreseeable future with an abductor tear.

Whilst his absence is an obvious negative, scoring goals has not been a problem for La Paillade in their 12 Ligue 1 outings so far this season and their tally of 19 is the fifth best in the country.

However, Montpellier also possess the worst defence in Ligue 1 and must tighten up their rearguard sharpish to start achieving some consistency having shipped a whopping 26 goals already in 2016/17.

Bastia have one of the weakest attacks in Ligue 1 as their nine goals scored suggests. However, they will be confident of exploiting the visitors further and improving their fairly respectable home record of two wins, two draws and two defeats.

The fact Montpellier are winless on the road in six games also tips matters in Bastia’s favour here, and after securing a 1-0 victory in last season’s corresponding fixture, we fancy Ciccolini’s side to get back to winning ways at a tempting 8/5.

The hosts’ goal shy record to date means a high scoring game is unlikely to ensue, despite Montpellier’s defensive woes, so we’ll back up our match bet with a punt on 2-1 in the correct score market.