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Prediction: LOSC Lille vs Paris Saint-Germain

Veselin Trajkovic in Free Soccer Predictions 20 Aug 2022

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Verdict: Away win

Best odds: 1/2

Bookmaker: Unibet

In Ligue 1, round three is up this weekend, and with it comes one of the bigger clashes of recent times when it comes to French football. The dominant force travels to face the only team that had briefly taken the throne for themselves in the last five years as LOSC Lille welcome Paris Saint-Germain to Stade Pierre-Mauroy on Sunday evening.

LOSC Lille

Lille were crowned champions at the end of 2020/21, but their title defence last season went to pieces completely and they finished 10th, 31 points behind PSG.

Some important players left the club this summer. Centre-back Sven Botman now plays for Newcastle, midfielder Amandou Onana joined Everton a few days ago, and midfielder Renato Sanches will be returning to face his old club with PSG. Right-back Zeki Celik has gone to play for Jose Mourinho’s AS Roma.

The ranks have been supplemented by the arrivals of striker Mohamed Bayo and right-back Akim Zedadka from Clermont Foot, attacking midfielder Remy Cabella from Montpellier, winger Alan Virginius from Sochaux, and left-back Ismaily from Shakhtar Donetsk.

At the moment, Lille are in a group of five teams that won once and drew once in the opening two rounds of the campaign. They first beat Auxerre at home by 4-1, and then held Nantes away to a 1-1 draw as Ismaily struck in the 78th minute to cancel out the home side’s 28th-minute opener scored by Moses Simon.

Team News

Coach Paulo Fonseca won’t be able to call upon defender Tiago Djalo due to suspension or forward Timothy Weah through injury.

Jonathan David, the in-demand attacker who remains at Lille for the time being, has been playing on the right side of attack in a 4-2-3-1, accommodating Bayo in the centre-forward role. Benjamin Andre and Angel Gomes will likely pair up in the middle of the park, with veteran Jose Fonte in command of the back line.

Paris Saint-Germain

The hottest story of the summer involving PSG, indeed one of the hottest at all, was the one surrounding the future of Kylian Mbappe. The 23-year-old France international was about to run out of contract and there was real possibility of him leaving for free, with many reports in Spain claiming for some time his move to Real Madrid had already been agreed. However, Mbappe made a U-turn in the end and signed a new three-year deal to stay in the French capital.

Others, however, did leave, most notably winger Angel Di Maria who joined Juventus as a free agent, midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum who joined Roma on loan, defender Thilo Kehrer who left for West Ham along with goalkeeper Alphonse Areola, and 20-year-old striker Arnaud Kalimuendo for whose services Stade Rennais reportedly agreed to pay €20 million.

As has been said, Renato Sanches has come in from Lille and Vitinha from FC Porto to add to Christpohe Galtier’s midfield section. The fullback ranks have been strengthened by the arrivals of Nuno Mendes from Sporting Lisbon and Nordi Mukiele from RB Leipzig, and Hugo Ekitike has come in from Stade Reims to boost the already formidable competition upfront.

PSG have got of to a good start to defending their crown, booking a maximum of six points from the opening two rounds as they smashed Clermont Foot away by 0-5 and Montpellier at home by 5-2. An own-goal from Montpellier’s Falaye Sacko broke the deadlock and Neymar added two more. Wahbi Kahzri pulled one back for the visitors, but Mbappe and Sanches scored two more for PSG, leaving Enzo Tchato to provide late consolation for Montpellier.

Galtier’s men lead the way on goal-difference, ahead of Olympique Lyon who also won their first two fixtures of the campaign.

Team News

Striker Mauro Icardi, attacking midfielder Julian Draxler and central midfielder Ander Herrera are out with different injury issues, but these absences aren’t likely to hurt the visitors’ chances too much.

Galtier prefers a three-man defence, and former Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos should be in command with Marquinhos and Presnel Kimpembe at his side. Achraf Hakimi and Mendes are likely to flank Marco Veratti and Sanches in midfield, and we’re likely to see the stellar forward line of Lionel Messi and Neymar playing either side of Mbappe.

Conclusion

Lille are a truly talented side and they won’t go down without a fight, that’s for sure, but it’s questionable if they have enough in their locker to hold off the full might of PSG when they come for the three points.

Verdict: Away win

Best odds: 1/2

Bookmaker: Unibet

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Veselin Trajkovic


Vesko is a football writer that likes to observe the game for what it is, focusing on teams, players and their roles, formations, tactics, rather than stats. He follows the English Premier League closely, Liverpool FC in particular. His articles have been published on seven different football blogs.

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