Lorient vs Stade Rennais Prediction: No much to separate both teams

Lorient faces Stade Rennais in the 20th fixture of the French Ligue 1 2022/23 season. Lorient advanced in the Coup de France, after beating Bastia on penalty shootouts, while Stade Rennais were not lucky, as they suffered a 1-0 defeat against Olympique de Marseille. With both matches behind them, these two will face each other in order to move up the Ligue 1 table. Rennes have the opportunity to get into the top 4 spot while Lorient can pip Lille to the 6th spot should Lille fail to win against OGC Nice.

Form Guide: WLDWW

Lorient look like an ambitious side this season even though their results say otherwise. But they are within reach of the top 4 and they will fancy their chances of breaking through. They are currently in 7th place, with 32 points after 17 matches. They have 9 wins, 5 draws and 5 losses, with a goal ratio of 31:29. Also, they have very good statistics on home soil so far this season, and they are currently the second-best team on home soil. After 10 home matches, they have 9 wins and 1 defeat, which is excellent. If they carry on this solid form, they are surely going to achieve big things this season. At home, they have scored 24 goals and conceded 7. No other team in the league has scored more goals at home than Lorient this season.

Stats shows Lorient are without a clean sheet in 3 matches and in ⅘ matches, more than 4.5 goals have been scored. In ⅘ of their matches, both teams have scored and in 10/10 matches, less than 4.5 cards have been shown. In 6/7 matches, less than 10.5 corners have also been played.

Form Guide: LWLWW

Stade Rennais are slightly better than Lorient and they occupy a higher spot on the table with 5 points separating them. Stade Rennais are 5th on the log, with 37 points after 19 games. They have 11 wins, 4 draws and 4 defeats and have a goal ratio of 36:20. Away from home, Stade Rennais have 10 points after 9 away matches. They have 2 wins, 4 draws and 3 defeats, with a goal ratio of 12:13. They come against a difficult and well organized home side, and they will need to up their game if they intend to take all 3 points here.

Stade Rennais have played over 2.5 goals in 8/10 matches and both teams have scored in that time. Less than 4.5 cards have been shown in 10/10 matches and less than 10.5 corners have been played in 6/7 matches.

Stade Rennes are currently on the same point as AS Monaco and a win here could see them leapfrog Monaco to 4th place, pending the result of the Monaco match.

These two teams have played 20 matches against each other. Stade Rennais have 10 wins, while Lorient have 4 wins and 6 matches ended in a draw. The most recent encounter ended 1-0 in favor of Lorient.

On the head to head stats, less than 2.5 goals have been scored in ⅘ matches between them. Stade Rennes have opened scoring in 6/7 matches and also won the first half in 5/7 matches against Lorient. In 10/10 matches, less than 4.5 cards have been shown and less than 10.5 corners have been played in ⅞ matches between them.

Lorient have made their home ground a fortress this season by not only conceding less, but also scoring more. That is worth noticing in such an encounter. The 1-1 draw against Bastia was a tight match and Lorient held their nerve in the penalty shootout to secure their place in the next round. That should give them confidence coming into this match and playing at home will be an extra advantage. Stade Rennais trashed Lorient 5-0 in April last year, but couldn’t follow up in the next encounter that ended 1-0 in favor of Lorient. Lorient are coming off a loss and walking straight into a tough ground, so they need a miracle to pull off a win here. The bookmakers seem to lean on a Rennais win here but it's a huge risk because Lorient are a very careful team when playing at home

I can predict a tight game here, with very little opportunities. There should be 1 or 2 goals scored here.

Interestingly, these two teams have not been shown more than 4 cards in their last 10 matches against each other. So, I predict a calm game with fewer cards shown to both teams at the end of the match.

• Bet on Goal 1 up to 15 minutes No at 1.60 Odds
• Bet on Rennes Win DNB at 1.66 Odds
• Bet on Over 2.5 goals at 1.90 Odds