Dijon vs Caen Predictions

Dijon have had a fantastic start to their third year in Ligue 1 as they have gotten three points from all their games so far. Caen on the other hand are still to win a match but have done OK to get points off of teams who finished well above them last season.

Caen started the season off with a dreaded trip to the capital to face PSG. As many expected, the champions ran out 3-0 winners on the day and the Caennais barely laid a glove on them all match. They were then tasked with hosting last year’s ninth placed Nice and drew 1-1 but this is a game that Caen really could have gone on to win. Nice have been torrid under Patrick Vieira and the goal they scored in this game still remains their only goal of the season. The hosts had many chances to put the game away as Pierre Lees Melou should have done better with his two shots on target. Still, they managed to get a point off a team who finished nine places higher than them last season, so manager Fabien Mercadal should be realistic and take some positives from the game.

Their most recent match was another 1-1 draw, this time against last year’s ninth placed team Nantes. Caen took the lead in the game and looked certain to win the game via Nantes’ toothless attack but after Paul Baysse gave away a penalty in the 80th minute, substitute Emiliano Sala got Nantes the crucial equalising goal as both teams finished level. Caen have looked slightly better than the team that failed to get a win in any of their final 11 games last season but Mercadal still has a lot of work to do before this team can look to progress up the table.

Caen had the 15th worst away record in the league last season and this will be something that a buoyant Dijon side will be looking to exploit.

Dijon finished just outside the top-10 last season but have already beat three teams who finished above them in the 2017/18 campaign. Dijon have gotten a maximum nine points from their opening three games and have breezed past the seemingly difficult opposition of Montpellier, Nantes and Nice. They came back to beat La Paillade on the opening day 2-1 after an early scare and continued this form into their match against Nantes. Julio Tavares had another fantastic game as the big striker grabbed two goals on the day. It was also a fantastic defensive performance as the back-four limited Nantes to zero shots on target.

The best result of the bunch so far though was last weekend’s trouncing of Nice. As has been said, Nice have been poor all season but are still the team that finished eighth last year and still possess some quality players including their Champions League winning captain Dante. Despite this, Dijon really went to town in this match as they hammered the Eaglets 4-0 away from home. Despite only having 44% of the possession, they still bagged four goals in a game where Jules Keita shone in what was only his third professional appearance. The Guinean midfielder started on the bench but in his 25-minute spell on the pitch he scored twice and assisted Oussama Haddadi. Alonside Tavares, he will be one that the Caennais defenders will have to watch out for.

With Dijon’s fantastic form of 14 goals in their last six league games, we expect Dijon to keep up their fantastic unbeaten start to this campaign. Despite finishing 11th, they had the 5th best home record last season and showed this when they won 2-0 two weeks ago at the Stade Gaston-Gerard. They have only conceded one goal so far and their solid defence will be no match for Caen’s weak attack. Caen have only scored eight times in their last 14 competitive games but have won none of those games, conceding 28 along the way and we’re expecting that to continue in this game as Caen have won none of their last 13 away games. We’re backing an easy 2-0 win for Dijon in this one.