Lille OSC vs ESTC Troyes Prediction: Lille OSC are in hot form

Lille OSC face ESTC Troyes in the 19th match of the Ligue 1 season. Lille OSC are in the top end of the table and can even move higher with a win here. Hopefully they can book a place in the UEFA Conference league or Europa League. Troyes find themselves in the lower half of the table and under pressure from Nantes and Montpellier. A win for Troyes can also see them challenge Toulouse for 12th place. 

Lille OSC are currently 7th on the table with 31 points from 18 games so far. They have recorded 9 wins, 4 draws and 5 losses in the first half of the season and their goal ratio is 30/24. When playing at home, Lille OSC recorded 5 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses in all 9 home games so far in the MLS. This makes them the 6th best team on home soil in the league.

Lille OSC have 3 wins and 2 draws in their last 5 games in all competitions. In their last game against Stade Brestois, they played a blank 0-0 draw after 90 minutes. Although the stats proved they were the better side in the game. They had 4 shots on target and 72% of the possession. Adam Ounas was taken off in the 83rd minute after picking up an injury. He was brilliant in the game and was the star performer for Lille OSC in that game.

Lille OSC have not lost in their last 10 games. In 6/7 matches, less than 2.5 goals have been scored and they have opened the scoring first in that amount of games. In 5/7 Lille have won the first half and in ⅞ matches, Less than 4.5 cards have been shown. Lille has also played less than 10.5 corners in 4/5 of their matches.

Troyes are in 13th place with 18 points after 18 games in the Ligue 1. They have recorded 4 wins, 6 draws and 8 losses and their goal ratio is 29/35 which is very poor. Troyes are only 3 points above the relegation zone and even though the second half of the season has just started, they don’t look like they will be getting better in the coming weeks. Away from home, Troyes are ranked 11th in the Ligue 1. In 9 away matches, Troyes have 3 wins and 6 losses and their goal ratio is 19/22.

In their last 5 matches, Troyes lost 3, drew 1 and won 1. Their last game ended in a 2-0 defeat against Olympique de Marseille. They managed only 1 shot on target in that game and had only 32% of the possession.

ESTAC Troyes have not kept a clean sheet in their last 3 games and less than 4.5 cards have been shown in 8/10 of their matches so far.

There’s not much to separate these two clubs on the head to head record. With 20 matches between them, Losc Lille and ESTAC Troyes have 7 wins and 6 matches ended in a draw. Lille OSC were 2-0 winners in their most recent encounter which saw ESTAC Troyes crash out of the Coup de France tournament.

In ⅘ matches between them, ESTAC Troyes have been first to open scoring and in 8/10 matches, Less than 4.5 cards have been shown.

From all indications, Lille OSC should win this game, as they are in better form and the opposition don’t seem to know what they are doing at the moment. With a Midfield combination of Remy Cabella, Benjamin Andre and Adam Ounas, you can expect Lille OSC to dominate proceedings at the middle of the pack. Jonathan David is the team’s highest goal scorer with 10 goals so far.

Troyes don’t score so much and I see them struggling to do so in this match. With that settled, they only have one option and that is to tighten things at the back. But they have only 1 clean sheet so far in this campaign and they concede 1.9 goals per game.

Mama Balde is averaging 2.8 shots per game and scoring every 186 minutes. He will be a key player for the Troyes team but I don't see them as outright winners anyway.

• Bet on Under 4.5 Cards at 1.68 Odds
• Bet on 2 or 3 goals in the match at 2.05 Odds
• Bet on Correct Score 2-0 at 6.5 Odds