Nice v St Etienne

Nice vs St Etienne Preview

Nice slipped to a second defeat in four games in the French top flight last weekend when Friday night's upcoming hosts were handed a 2-0 defeat away from home at Marseille, while newly promoted St Etienne ended their nightmare start to this new Ligue 1 campaign last weekend with a welcome and impressive 1-0 home win against Lille and the visitors will be looking for more of the same here at the Allianz Riviera.

Nice have managed to capture just one win within their opening four games of the domestic top flight season which came in the form of a 4-1 rout of Angers away from home last weekend but the home side have also been handed early defeats in the shape of losses at the hands of Auxerre and the aforementioned Marseille.

Nice finished last season's Ligue 1 campaign in fifth place but the hosts did find league wins relatively tough to come by as Franck Haise's side have only managed to collect a total of five wins from their last 19 league matches overall, whilst being dealt eight defeats within this period as well, thus making this upcoming fixture a potentially tough one for the home side.

St Etienne produced a horrific start to this new French top flight season upon their return to Ligue 1 as the visitors were handed three straight defeats on the trot, suffering losses at the hands of Monaco, Le Havre and Brest but they finally got themselves off the mark with a 1-0 home win against Lille last weekend.

The visitors achieved promotion via the play-offs at the end of last season's successful Ligue 2 campaign but Olivier Dall'Oglio's side are tipped to be amongst one of the contenders for possible relegation come the end of this season's domestic top flight campaign unless they can start picking up points on the road.

Results away from home have also been disappointing as St Etienne have managed to capture just two wins in their previous 10 outings on the road which have been collected at Grenoble Foot 38 and Montpellier but also includes being dealt five defeats as well.

Five of these last 10 away games in all competitions have also resulted in Under 2.5 goals being scored and therefore the prospects of a low-scoring encounter unfolding at the Allianz Riviera look fairly promising as neither Nice nor St Etienne have been particularly convincing so far in the early stages of this season's campaign.

Nice v St Etienne Verdict

Nice are yet to start hitting the heights of last season so far this term and this could hold the hosts back while St Etienne will bring renewed confidence into what could prove to be a low-scoring game.

Therefore, our main bet will be Under 2.5 goals @ 2.00

Other side bets worth considering:

St Etienne win @ 5.75

Correct Score: St Etienne win & Under 2.5 goals @ 4.00