Lyon-Clermont is a Ligue 1 Week 17 match and is played on Sunday at 17:00: statistics, likely formations, predictions.
The decision to play several friendlies around Europe had evidently been well thought out. Laurent Blanc, who only arrived last October, needed to ‘get to know’ his Lyon better in order to try to solve those problems that have been plaguing him for months and preventing him from becoming competitive again for big goals. The fact is that in the away match at Brest the Gones finally managed to exploit their full offensive potential by sending four different players into the net.
Of course, the two goals conceded did not go unnoticed either – it ended 2-3 – but the former Psg coach will deal with that too. The most important thing was to start winning again, as the first part of the season had ended with a defeat (Marseille) and a draw (Nice). And the classification is slowly starting to look less worrying: Lyon are still eighth but the European zone is getting closer, although third place – currently occupied by Marseille – remains nine points away. Now Blanc and his men’s objective is to regain continuity and avoid repeating the same mistakes.
In their first match of 2023, the Rhodesian club will host Clermont at the Groupama Stadium, where they have won all three of their last matches. It will be a golden opportunity for Blanc to continue racking up points, as the red and blues have not won since 9 October and last Wednesday surrendered 2-0 to Lille after holding out for almost seventy minutes. The defeat, however, had no bearing on the classification: Pascal Gastien’s troop has 19 points and is keeping a good distance from the relegation zone. Clermont have done really well away from home so far, having won almost half of their points away from home.
The Prediction
Lyon appeared to be on the rise against Brest and should achieve their three-point objective against Clermont in a match with at least three goals in total
Lyon-Clermont matchday squad
- LION (4-2-3-1): Lopes; Diomandé, Da Silva, Lukeba, Kumbedi; Tolisso, Caqueret; Tête, Cherki, Toko-Ekambi; Lacazette.
- CLERMONT (3-4-2-1): Diaw; Seidu, Wieteska, Mendy; Bela, Gastien, Magnin, Borges; Cham, Khaoui; Kyei.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 3-1