LOSC Lille vs Stade Rennes Prediction: Stade Rennes will prefer to share the spoils.

LOSC Lille have their sights set on the 3rd spot as they are now just 1 point behind AS Monaco in 3rd place. They hope to topple AS Monaco as the battle for the top spots gathers momentum. However, inconsistency has been lacking lately and they can't allow it to continue. LOSC Lille need a win as they prepare to take on Stade Rennes in the 25th round.

Stade Rennes are currently just sitting outside the Europa conference league spot. They are 4 points away from the spot and they don't look to be giving up the fight anytime soon. It's going to take more than just winning to get into the Conference League spot, but they hope to keep doing their jobs and maybe catch an opportunity soon.

LOSC Lille

LOSC Lille are in a position where every point matters and losing games can have very severe consequences in terms of positions on the table. At the moment they are in 4th place with 41 points, 1 point behind AS Monaco in 3rd place and 1 point above OGC Nice in 5th.

It's difficult to speak about the form of the LOSC Lille team at the moment. Despite just beating Sturm in the Europa League a few days ago, they still lack consistency in the league. In their last 4 Ligue 1 games, they had 2 wins and suffered 2 defeats. Which is rarely close to consistency. 

The 3-1 defeat to Toulouse almost 2 weeks ago was probably a clear indication of trouble for LOSC Lille. Although they did manage to beat Stade Reims in the next game by a single goal, there's still a great need for consistency in the LOSC Lille team.

LOSC Lille coach Paulo Fonseca reverted to a 4-3-3 standard formation in the game against Stade Reims after playing a 4-2-3-1 against Toulouse a week earlier. And in the game against Stade Reims, they weren't as dominant as expected. They had 43% possession, 3 shots on target, 4 corner kicks and they created 2 big chances all game.

For Paulo Fonseca, there's a huge task ahead regarding how the team responds to games. He has to make sure the team approaches each game with caution and stop dropping points.

Stade Rennes

For Stade Rennes, the 2-1 defeat to Lorient last weekend was a bitter pill. They had been hoping to keep the distance closer to the teams above them on the table but they were dealt a huge blow by the defeat. 

There's still a long way to the end of the season and Stade Rennes have no reason to give up now. So they are expected to get back on their feet and keep fighting for points, starting with LOSC Lille this weekend.

Stade Rennes manager Julien Stéphan had a lot to take home from the defeat to Lorient last weekend and maybe he might have enough to make critical changes to the setup for this upcoming game. He deployed a 4-2-3-1 formation against Lorient and according to stats Rennes had 56% possession, 6 shots on target, 6 corners and they created 2 big chances. The team also had 13 shots in the opposition's box. 

Julien Stéphan made 2 changes to the defensive line during the game obviously for tactical reasons. Alidu Seidu and Warmed Omari were replaced by Guela Doue and Christopher Wooh. It was evident he wasn't satisfied with the duos game and decided to sub them off.

Ahead of the game against LOSC Lille, Julien Stéphan can't afford to allow the team produce the same performance as they did against Lorient. So we expected some changes to the setup of the team.

Head to Head

In the last 20 meetings, LOSC Lille have won 7 matches, while Stade Rennes have won 5 matches and 8 matches ended in a draw.

Analysis and Predictions

The expectation from both clubs is to make life difficult for the other. That's the least the fans expect from both clubs irrespective of the end result. It's hard to see LOSC Lille as outright winners despite having the home advantage. Stade Rennes are desperate not to lose another game and they will do whatever it takes not to. They might just settle for a stalemate instead.

According to the h2h streaks, LOSC Lille have not lost the last 9 meetings and they are without a clean sheet in the last 5. Stade Rennes are without a clean sheet in the last 13 meetings and there's been more than 2.5 goals in 4 of the last 5 meetings. Both teams scored in the last 5 meetings and LOSC Lille scored first in 8 of the last 9 meetings. LOSC Lille also won the first half in 6 of the last 8 meetings and there were less than 10.5 corners in 7 of the last 8 meetings.

• Stade Rennes to Play More than 3.5 Corners at 1.83 Odds
• Stade Rennes to Play More than 3.5 Corners at 1.83 Odds
• Draw FT at 3.40 Odds