Raon L'Etape vs Lille Predictions

• The hosts have scored in each of their last 21 matches.
• Lille have kept just two clean sheets in their 13 away games this season.
• Lille have won five of their last seven games.

Lille looking to take form into 2020

Lille won this competition back in 2011 but since then it has been a rather barren run with just two quarter-finals appearances being their best achievements in this time. Lille are now out of the Champions League though so will be looking elsewhere for their silverware and the Coupe de France looks a prime opportunity. As last year shown, it doesn’t always have to be PSG with the trophy come May. 

Les Dogues finished out 2019 in solid fashion with five wins in their final seven games. The closing game ended 5-1 to Monaco which will have disappointed many fans but Galtier’s men will be itching to bounce back here against a much smaller outfit in Raon-l’Étape. What made the Monaco result even more bizarre was the fact that Lille had beat les Monegasques 3-0 four days prior in the Coupe de la Ligue with an extremely solid defensive performance closing out the opponents. Despite the heavy loss, Lille have generally been rather solid at the back recently with four clean sheets in their last seven games.

Lille’s away form is rather mixed coming into this as their last four matches on the road have seen them destroy and be destroyed by Monaco. Outwith these results they had a solid 1-0 win over Lyon before a respectable 2-1 defeat at Stamford Bridge which should set them up well for this clash with Raon-l’Étape.

Raon L’Étape in some poor form

The hosts for this one play their football in the fifth tier of France but will be looking to show their utmost quality as the Ligue 1 big boys come to town. They currently sit third in Group F of the Championnat National 3, three points behind leaders Metz. They finished out the year with matches against three of the league’s top five and while they managed to beat the leaders 2-0, they had a rather disappointing 3-1 defeat to Sarre Union and a 1-1 draw with Prix-lès-Mézières to finish the year on a low. 

They actually go into this match in rather poor form with just one win in their last six league games, and even though this did come against heavyweights Metz, the league leaders had to play over 45 minutes with ten men. Raon-l’Étape have conceded ten goals and scored nine in this time but could do with a real confidence boost here. The fifth-tier side have really gone off the boil in recent weeks with their home form also taking a hit. They opened the season with four home wins in a row but since then they have won just one of their last three at the Stade Paul-Gasser with a 4-3 defeat to third bottom Sarreguemines being the worst result so far. 

The Ligue 1 heavyweights to boss it?

With Raon-l’Étape in rather poor form in their own division, we doubt they’ll be able to pull a fast one on last year’s Ligue 1 runners-up. Lille have been solid recently with their defence largely impressive bar a few high-profile catastrophes. However, with the hosts scoring in each of their last 21 games, we’re backing Raon-l’Étape to get on the scoresheet here as the away side should still be hurting from their 5-1 defeat in Monaco. Lille have kept clean sheets in just two of their 13 matches on the road this season so we doubt this one will be a whitewash. Nevertheless, the top tier side should be able to get past the fifth tier minnows here so we’re backing them to win 3-1.