St Etienne v Metz

St Etienne vs Metz Preview

St Etienne and Metz will do battle at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in this 1st leg of their play-off to determine which side will be playing in the French top flight next season with St Etienne heading into this tie on the back of a 2-0 home win against Rodez in Ligue 2, while Metz suffered a fourth league defeat on the trot in Ligue 1 when they were beaten 2-0 at home by PSG on the final day of the domestic top flight season.

St Etienne finished the regular Ligue 2 campaign in third place which meant the hosts had to undergo a promotion play-off against the fourth placed finishers, Rodez, which St Etienne won to earn their right to fave Metz on Thursday night.

Olivier Dall'Oglio's side produced a pretty strong finish to their French second tier campaign as St Etienne were handed just two defeats in their last 16 games overall in Ligue 2 which came in the form of losses at the hands of Ajaccio and Quevilly-Rouen Metropole, but the hosts had also captured 11 wins within this period as well.

St Etienne also finished their season on home soil at their Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in strong too, as the hosts won seven of their last eight games.

Metz by contrast endured a dismal end to their Ligue 1 campaign as the visitors slumped to four defeats on the trot, culminating in a 2-0 loss at home to PSG and finishing third from bottom in the Ligue 1 table and in the relegation play-off spot, hence this upcoming two-legged play-off tie against St Etienne.

League wins overall were tough to come by for Metz who had managed to claim just four league wins out of their last 21 matches which came in the form of victories against the likes of Nantes, Clermont, Lens and Le Havre, but the visitors were also dealt a number of defeats along the way as well.

Indeed, Metz slumped to 16 defeats within these previous 21 games overall which certainly does not bode well for this upcoming 1st leg at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard on Thursday night, especially as Laszlo Boloni's side have managed to register just two away wins from their last 10 outings on the road and slipping to seven defeats in the process.

In addition, Metz have managed to keep just two clean sheets in their last 10 away games.

St Etienne v Metz Verdict

St Etienne have won two out of the last three meetings at home against Metz and the hosts might just sneak a narrow win here in this 1st leg considering Metz's poor results away from home.

Therefore, our main bet will be St Etienne win @ 2.16

Other side bets worth considering:

St Etienne win & Under 2.5 goals @ 4.50

Correct Score: St Etienne 1-0 @ 7.00