Troyes v Lille

Troyes vs Lille Preview

This weekend marks the final round of fixtures in the French top flight and features this upcoming clash between already relegated Troyes and high-flying visitors Lille, but despite sitting in fourth place, the visitors still have work to do on this final day of the Ligue 1 season as teams jostle for the last remaining European spots.

It's been a miserable Ligue 1 campaign for Saturday's hosts, Troyes, as they have managed to scrape together just one win at home throughout the whole of this season and to make matters worse, Troyes also possess the worst sequence of results in the division by failing to win any of their last 20 league games.

Troyes will therefore join Ajaccio, Angers and either Auxerre or Nantes into Ligue 2 next season and the hosts could be forgiven for desperately wanting this season to end, especially as Troyes are without a home win in their last 16 matches.

A draw appears to be Troyes' best hope here as 10 of these last 16 home games have resulted in stalemate and indeed, Troyes have drawn the most home games to date so far this season.

Lille by contrast occupy fourth place in the Ligue 1 table but although they also have one foot already in potential European action next season, the visitors will only be too aware of the threat of the chasing teams such as Rennes and Monaco who are hot on their heels and only a point behind Lille.

Lille therefore know they must take all three points against a beleaguered Troyes outfit here this Saturday evening to make absolutely certain of a place in Europe for next term and having won their last two matches on the trot by virtue of wins against Marseille and Nantes respectively, Lille should have enough in the tank to secure a result against Troyes.

Although Lille have lost two away games in recent times at Angers and Reims, these have been Lille's only two slip-ups in their previous 13 games overall where they've picked up seven wins in the process and also eight of these 13 games have also seen both teams score as well.

Perhaps a chink in Lille's armour though may be results away from home and in particular recent results as the visitors have failed to win any of their last four games on the road and indeed, have picked up just one win on their last seven outings, so an away win here is by no means guaranteed.

Troyes v Lille Verdict

The draw has certainly been prevalent in Troyes' home games this season and given Lille's recent decline in form on their travels, the prospects of both teams scoring here do look promising, while a score-draw also looks to be on the cards as well.

Therefore, our main bet will be Both Teams To Score YES @ 1.80

Other side bets worth considering:

Draw @ 6.50

Correct score: 1-1 @ 13.00