Our prediction for this Ligue 1 match:
St Etienne and Lille square off against each other at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in what is expected to be a close Ligue 1 encounter. Les Verts made a very slow start to the season, losing each of their first league fixtures and given their poor defensive display in a heavy 4-0 defeat to Brest, home win should not be considered. All Ben Old, Mahmoud Bentayg, and Anthony Briancon are sidelined with injuries, but there are no suspended players in the home team.
Les Dogues, on the other hand, aim to recover from a 3-1 loss to PSG and we predict that they will take advantage of St Etienne’s defensive vulnerabilities. All Mukau, Haraldsson, Bentaleb, and Umtiti are out of contention with injuries for the visiting side. You should bear in mind that the two sides have shared the spoils in each of their last four meetings in the French top flight.
Highlighted Player (Benjamin André):
Benjamin Andre is a French footballer, who began his career at Stade Raphaelois youth team. At the age of 16 Andre moved to Ajaccio and he played for the first team from 2008 to 2014. The right-footed midfielder scored 12 goals in 187 appearances in the league for the Corsican team and in the summer of 2014 he moved to fellow French club Rennes.
Andre scored his first goal for les Rouges et Noirs on January 25, 2015, in a 4-1 defeat to Caen. The French player made provided three assists for his teammates in 36 appearances for Rennes in the 2016/2017 Ligue 1 campaign and the club chiefs decided to extend his contract in June, 2017. His deal with the Roazhon Park outfit should expire on June 30, 2022.
Benjamin Andre, who was born in Nice on August 3, 1990, has seven caps for France U21 team. The Rennes footballer plays as a central midfielder, but he is often used as both left and right midfielder.
Highlighted Team (St Etienne):
Saint Etienne are a professional football club that compete in French Ligue 1. Les Verts were founded in 1919 by employees of a grocery store chain based in Saint Etienne. Saint Etienne wear green shirts and white shorts when playing at home ground and they play their home matches at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard.
The stadium was opener on 13 September, 1931 and following the renovation the capacity of the venue increased to 42 000. In 1981 les Verts won their tenth Ligue 1 trophy, but they have been in the shadow of Ligue 1 giants Lyon and PSG in the 21st century.
Speaking of the club’s European success, Saint Etienne made it to the European Cup (Champions League) final in 1976, but Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich proved to be a big catch for the French outfit. Anyhow, that is regarded as the club’s biggest success. It has to be noted that the likes of Michel Platini, Jacques Santini, Laurent Blanc and Aime Jacquet all played for Saint Etienne in the past.