Lens and Saint-Étienne spectators can't wait for Ligue 1 clash at Stade Bollaert-Delelis

Lens and Saint-Étienne should both be in good shape for this meeting, as there's been enough days for both of them to train and rest since their last matches.

Lens form and stats

Last season, Lens's league statistics were 15 wins, 12 draws and 11 losses, resulting in a 7th position in the Ligue 1. Over these 38 matches they scored 55 goals and conceded 54. Playing at home last season Lens managed 7-7-5 (win-draw-lost) with 28 goals and 26 conceded.

The home team returns to Stade Bollaert-Delelis after being equal after 90 minutes with Rennes (placed 13th) on their last time out; the Ligue 1 game ended 1-1. Attacking player Gaël Kakuta bested all teammates in that game and got a match rating of 7.42 out of 10. Kakuta hit one key pass, dribled passed the opponent 3 of 4 times and had 26 successful passes (of 27 total).

The spoils were shared after 90 minutes before that, a home game that ended 0-0 versus Monaco.

The hosts are modest favourites in this match, with the bookmakers estimating the chance of a home win at about 50% +- five percent. It's interesting to look at how Lens have performed under similar circumstances, so here are some numbers: When modest favourites like this (we found 14 games) they have won five times, drawn five and lost four.

Saint-Étienne form and stats

Let's have a look at how Saint-Étienne performed last season in the Ligue 1: They landed a 11th position in the league table after playing out 12 victories, 10 draws and 16 defeats. In total they scored 42 and conceded 54 goals in these matches. The numbers for away games only are: Won 7 - drew 4 and lost 8 with 22/25 goals scored/conceded.

There were no winners in Saint-Étienne's previous match, a Ligue 1 home game that ended 1-1 vs Lorient (placed 9th). Wahbi Khazri, attacking player, was the top performer on the team in that game, scoring a match rating of 7.83. Khazri scored one goal, hit three key passes and had 28 successful passes (of 34 total).

A loss against Dijon was the result prior to that, in a home game.

Saint-Étienne are the outsiders in this one, but not by much. Their performance in similar games (being the away team and moderate outsiders) is four wins, one draw and eight defeats. From a total of 13 matches.

Head 2 Head

Last ten meetings between the teams: Lens won five, Saint-Étienne won three and two draws. six games with over 2,5 goals, four matches with two goals or less.

Top Goalscorers

S. Fofana 1 goals

W. Khazri 1 goals

Lens missing players

Saint-Étienne missing players