Despite the current upbeat mood around the club, keeping things tight as the game grows old could be key for Philippe Montanier’s men to stop their current run of three consecutive Ligue 1 losses at Stadium TFC, especially as they conceded the decisive goal after the 75th minute on each occasion.
Toulouse
Just three days after defeating Annecy to reach their first-ever Coupe de France final, Toulouse secured a 2-1 win at Montpellier on Sunday to take their points tally to 38. Such a healthy total suggests that another win should be enough to ensure they play a second-straight top-flight season considering since Ligue 1 went back to 20 teams in 2002, the average points tally for the side to finish in 16th place is 40.9. Despite the current upbeat mood around the club, keeping things tight as the game grows old could be key for Philippe Montanier’s men to stop their current run of three consecutive Ligue 1 losses at Stadium TFC, especially as they conceded the decisive goal after the 75th minute on each occasion.
When you couple that with the fact they’ve failed to win the previous 13 H2Hs with Lyon, it’s no surprise to see that Toulouse priced up as slight outsiders here.
Lyon
Also competing in the CDF last week, Lyon failed to join their upcoming opponents in the final but reacted well with an important 3-1 win over Rennes last weekend to keep alive their European aspirations. Sitting five points adrift of the top-five as a result of back-to-back Ligue 1 victories, Les Gones now go in search of a third league win in a row for the first time in 2022/23 which would provisionally see them leapfrog sixth-place Rennes. Playing away from home won’t bother Laurent Blanc’s men too much either as they’ve lost just one of their previous eight league road trips, with only one of their six away losses in Ligue 1 this term coming against a current bottom-half team.
Lyon have recently travelled well to this venue too, but Blanc will have to do without the youngest player among Europe’s top-five leagues to have been involved in at least ten competitive goals in 2023, as Bradley Barcola was suspended.
Each of Toulouse’s previous six league wins have seen in-form Thijs Dallinga get on the scoresheet. He’ll be trying to outdo Lyon’s lucky charm Maxence Caqueret, who has led his team to victory with all his seven goal contributions this Ligue 1 campaign. The previous eight H2Hs have all seen the opening goal scored before the half-hour mark.