The upcoming Angers vs. Saint-Étienne Ligue 1 clash on October 26, 2024, is an important fixture for two teams near the bottom of the table. For Angers, their season has gone sour so far without a win, hence desperate to break this 12-match winless streak in the league. Saint-Étienne lies in 14th place and have been inconsistent, but two wins in five games may give them a slight edge in this tie. Both have struggled to flex their muscles on the pitch this season, with a combination of tactical shortcomings, defensive frailties, and attacking play that has been inconsistent in establishing good control over the game. The stakes are high, and this might just be that elusive win-one to serve as an out-and-out morale booster for either team.
Claim Welcome BonusAngers
Angers go into this match following a 1-1 draw against Toulouse. That puts them on a run of four successive draws, but their general form is pretty poor. They are generally pretty okay to see games go under 2.5 goals through decent defending, although they haven't won a game all season. This has kept them in the lower half of the table as they haven't been able to capitalize on any goal-scoring opportunities.
Coach Alexandre Dujeux generally plays Angers in a defensive setup of 4-2-3-1. The essence, here, is to carve out counterattacks, especially through stable defense. The team has demonstrated limited possession all season. In the last match, for example, the team had just 34% of possession, relying much on winning defensive duels and tackles. They usually transition from defense to attack using long balls and crosses, though quite poor in those deliveries. In their last match, they created only two big chances, and the shooting accuracy was low; hence, the attack is really blunt. They will most likely try to keep it tight and look for any counter-attacking opportunities, especially through the wide areas.
Saint Etienne
With a new coach in Olivier Dall'Oglio, Saint-Étienne has flashes of looking improved, but a 2-0 defeat to Lens last time out underlined the defensive vulnerabilities and lack of attacking impetus that mark them out as one of the division's most vulnerable. Like Angers, they too seem to struggle with conceding the first goal in most matches, and inconsistency has marked their progress so far. Still, their record against Angers has been nothing short of excellent, and of course, there will be no better motive on hand to continue that supremacy.
Under Olivier Dall'Oglio, Saint-Étienne are a 4-3-3 system that heavily relies on pressing and transition moments. While this may be the tactic, Saint-Étienne really struggle for large parts to maintain possession of the ball; they have had just 37% against Lens, and the levels of creating good chances are poor, too - not a single big chance in their last match. The team has relied a lot on individual duels and tackles to recover possession, but they may look at trying to exploit Angers' weak center by pushing their wings high and relying on crosses into the box.
Head to Head
Historically, Saint-Étienne has been dominant in this fixture, winning 9 of the last 17 matches, while Angers have managed a mere 3 victories with 5 draws between the teams. The recent meeting in February 2024 saw Saint-Étienne win comfortably 3-0. Since then, Angers has tended to be poor at the back in this matchup, leaking 6 goals in their last couple of meetings. By contrast, Saint-Étienne have usually been more clinical in front of goal.
Expert Betting Tips
Angers' struggles can be seen on the immediate level: no wins in 12 matches, failing to create enough in the final third, and conceding the first goal in 8 of their last 9 games. However, they have kept the scorelines somewhat close, with under 2.5 goals in 4 of their last 5 games, but failing to win has put them in a very difficult position. Their defensive solidity-decent tackle success rates and duels won-may prevent it from being a high-scoring game.
Saint-Étienne are marginally better, but nowhere near reliable. They've conceded in each of their last four games, and like Angers, they often fall behind first. Their offensive output has been concerning too, considering they did not even fashion a big chance against Lens, but their superior head-to-head record against Angers may provide the psychological edge.
- Over 3 Cards @ 1.6 Odds
- 3 Way Total Under 3 Goals @ 1.82 Odds
- Draw FT @ 3.40 Odds
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