Le Mans vs Lens Predictions

• Le Mans are on a 16-match unbeaten streak at home
• Lens have lost three of their last five Ligue 1 games, including each of the last two
• Both teams to score has landed in all three of Le Mans’ matches this season

Lens look too short in Le Mans

While Le Mans were being promoted from the second tier last term, Lens were challenging Paris Saint-Germain for the title, so the visitors’ short odds make sense at a glance. 

However, Lens were decimated over the summer, seeing key midfielders Adrien Thomasson and Mamadou Sangare depart along with influential manager Pierre Sage, and they haven’t exactly started the season well. 

An alarming trend has emerged in their games, too, with both their solitary Ligue 1 win and midweek Champions League victory coming against teams who received a red card within 50 minutes. 

Hosts have enough to trouble visitors

That form isn’t good enough to warrant such a short price for this clash, especially after last week’s 1-0 home loss to Lorient. 

Le Mans may have only two points to their name but their performances have been good enough to suggest they can trouble Lens. 

The most notable Le Mans showing came in a 3-2 defeat at in-form Rennes, who needed a 96th-minute penalty to defeat their ten-man visitors.

A repeat of that performance would cause an in-transition Lens side all sorts of problems, so it may be worth siding with Patrick Videira’s odds-against hosts in the double-chance market.