Nantes’ hopes of transferring that form from the cup to the league took a hit in that game, with the influential Nicolas Pallois picking up an injury that could see him spend weeks on the touchline.
Nantes
A tour in the French Cup proved to be a perfect distraction from Nantes‘ Ligue 1 struggles as the Canaries breezed past a lowly AF Virois 2-0. Despite there being a clear gulf in the teams positions in the footballing pyramid, a win is a win for Nantes, who have collected just one from their last six games in Ligue 1, contributing to their treacherous position of 15th after 17 games. Nantes’ hopes of transferring that form from the cup to the league took a hit in that game, with the influential Nicolas Pallois picking up an injury that could see him spend weeks on the touchline. Boss Antoine Kombouare labelled that injury a “big blow”, and there appears little chance of Nantes overcoming that hardship against a Lyon side who they’ve lost five straight H2Hs against, all of which saw them trail by half-time.
Lyon
Lyon enjoyed a cup win of their own over the weekend, overcoming Metz 2-1 as they seek to gather some momentum to get their faltering campaign back on track. Despite a solid start seeing Lyon go unbeaten after five rounds, an indifferent run since has them lagging nine points behind the European places on the back of just three wins in 12 league outings. That hit-and-miss nature now sees Lyon at real risk of posting successive top-flight finishes outside of the top four for the first time since 1997/98 after last season’s eighth-placed finish. It’s the eighth where Lyon find themselves currently, and although they can’t climb the table with a win here, they travel on the back of two wins from three away league games, which should boost confidence that they can at least close the gap to those above.
Nantes’ Mostafa Mohamed scored in their cup victory, but all four of his league goals this term have come after the break. Lyon’s Alexandre Lacazette is similarly proficient in the second half, with four of his last five goals coming after half-time. In comparison, his last two league goals against Nantes both came from the penalty spot. Lyon have gone ten away league games without a clean sheet.