Nancy vs Lyon Predictions & Betting Tips, Match Previews

Nancy enjoyed a very successful season last term as they romped to the Ligue 2 title, beating 2nd placed Dijon by two points and ending nine points inside the automatic promotion spot. This secured them a return to Ligue 1 that they were relegated from back in 2012/13.

So far they have managed to hang on to their most influential players, with only playmaker Arnaud Lusamba leaving the club. Teenage midfielder Youssef Ait Bennasser has also been sold, but Monaco have agreed to loan the promising youngster back to Nancy for the season. They have also brought in strikers Anthony Koura and Christophe Mandanne as they look to extend their stay in the top flight.

Nancy’s pre-season friendlies have passed by relatively uneventfully. They have beaten Hombourg and fellow promoted side Dijon, drawing against Reims and Sporting Gijon and losing just once against Strasbourg.

Lyon’s season started earlier than most as they contested the France Super Cup with reigning Ligue 1, Coupe de France, and Coupe de la Ligue champions PSG last weekend. It didn’t go well for them, with the dominant Parisians thrashing them 4-1 thanks to three first half goals from Javier Pastore, Lucas Moura, and Hatem Ben Arfa. Layvin Kurzawa added a 4th ten minutes after half time before Tolisso notched a consolation goal.

Prior to that Lyon were unbeaten in pre-season, with wins against Benfica, Sporting CP, and Zenit coming after a draw with Bourg en Bresse. Overall they have only lost two of their last 16 matches, which is what helped them to secure the runners up spot in Ligue 1 again. They were a ridiculous 31 points adrift of winners PSG though, beating Monaco to 2nd place on goal difference.

On the transfer side of things they have lost key centre back Samuel Umtiti to Barcelona, but a hefty £20 million price tag allowed them to bring in Emanuel Mammana and Nicolas N’Koulou to replace the young French defender. The biggest success is them managing to fend off Arsenal as they chased Alexandre Lacazette.

I’m expecting more of the same from Lyon this season, and they definitely have the quality in their side to get off to a winning start on Sunday. They won four of their last seven away days in Ligue 1 last season, and my prediction is for them to kick the campaign off with a win against Nancy. Odds of 23/20 for a Lyon Win look very good value to me, so I’m going for that along with a 2-0 correct score prediction at 9/1.