Saint Etienne vs Montpellier
Saint-Etienne will host Montpellier in Ligue 1 on week 36. Victory will be an absolute target for Saint-Etienne to keep up the hopes of next season’s Champions League.
Until the 35th week of the Ligue 1 2018/2019 season Saint-Etienne successfully collected 62 points and finished 4th in the standings. Saint-Etienne itself is only 1 point adrift of Lyon in third place or the boundary to the Champions League and 7 points adrift of Lille in second place. With 3 weeks left, Saint-Etienne’s chances for the Champions League season are quite open.
To be able to qualify directly into the Champions League group phase by finishing in second place is clearly not going to be easy for Saint-Etienne. With 3 weeks remaining, Lille can even immediately turn off Saint-Etienne’s resistance this weekend by only drawing a draw against Bordeaux on Sunday (12/05) tonight. So, the most realistic target for Saint-Etienne is to take third from Lyon.
This match is equally important for Montpellier. Sitting in fifth place in the standings with a score of 55 points, Montpellier should not lose if you do not want to get out of the European zone. Keep in mind, the Ligue 1 allotment to the Europa League is 3, but the success of Stade Rennais winning the French Cup makes only the 4th and 5th ranked teams qualify for the Europa League.
Montpellier itself is currently only superior on goal difference from Marseille, ranked 6 and 3 points from Nice in rank 7. With 3 games remaining, Montpellier’s position is really very vulnerable. But if you succeed in winning this match, Montpellier not only managed to maintain their position but also managed to approach Saint-Etienne in 4th place.
The capital of Montpellier is quite large. They are unbeaten in the last 4 matches in Ligue 1 with 3 wins and 1 draw. It’s just that, Montpellier is often troubled mentally when playing away, it proved they were only able to achieve 2 wins and had to suffer 3 defeats in their last 8 away games.
Meanwhile, Saint-Etienne is more consistent. In addition to winning the last 4 games, Saint-Etienne are also unbeaten in their last 7 Ligue 1 matches with 6 wins and 1 draw. Saint-Etienne’s home record is also quite good, at least they have won their last 3 matches at the Stade Geoffrey-Guichard.
Our Prediction: x
Odds: 2.80