Lens-Lille is a match valid for the eighth day of Ligue 1 and is played on Sunday at 5:05 p.m.: statistics, probable formations, predictions.
The highlight of the seventh day is undoubtedly one of the most heartfelt derbies in French soccer and that is the one between Lens and Lille, also known as derby du Nord for clear geographical reasons. The Giallorossi, who have made a comeback in recent years, are off to a great start after a very complicated beginning, in which they had barely scraped together a point amid no less than four defeats.
The resurgence came in conjunction with the start of the Champions League, a competition in which Lens is participating by virtue of their second-place finish last year. Almost given up for dead, Franck Haise’s men first managed to avoid defeat on the field of Sevilla, snatching a valuable draw, then racked up two consecutive victories in Ligue 1 against Toulouse and Strasbourg. But the real masterpiece Lens pulled it off last Tuesday, beating none other than Arsenal in a fiery Stade Bollaert-Delelelis. Undisputed man of the match was striker Wahi, who, once the acclimatization period was over, started scoring steadily and for now is not making his predecessor Openda, who moved to Leipzig in the summer, regret it. Against the Gunners Wahi netted the decisive goal but had previously provided the assist for Thomasson.
Now Lens must recover positions in the league, where it still lies desolately in 15th position (7 points in as many games) due to the start to forget.
David and Yazici
It has four more points from Paulo Fonseca’s Lille, which, like last year, is alternating good things with less good things. The team coached by the former Roma coach is discontinuous and proved it again in last Thursday’s Conference League match: in the remote Far Oer Islands the Dogues were resoundingly stopped by Klaksvik, going no further than a drab 0-0. In any case, it was the second positive result for Lille, which on Sunday had swept the field of newly promoted Le Havre (0-2). Fonseca for the derby recovers two old acquaintances of our Serie A like Ounas and Umtiti, but will still have to do without Djalo and Zedadka. In Lens, on the other hand, Gradit is disqualified.
The prediction
Let’s go with the team that seems to be better off at the moment, Lens, fresh from a historic win against Arsenal in the Champions League. It will be, as usual, a hard-fought derby: both are likely to score.
The likely lineups for Lens-Lille
- LENS (3-4-3): Samba; Khusanov, Danso, Medina; Aguilar, Abdul Samed, Diouf, Frankowski; Sotoca, Saïd, Fulgini.
- LILLE (4-2-3-1): Chevalier; Diakité, Yoro, Aleksandro, Ismaily; Gomes, André; Yazici, Cabella, Cavaleiro; David.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 2-1
