Nice will travel to Stade Pierre-Mauroy in search of their first victory of the 2022-23 Ligue 1 campaign when they battle Lille on Wednesday.

Last Friday, Les Dogues bounced back from a lopsided 7-1 defeat to PSG by beating Ajaccio 3-1, while Les Aiglons were shut out for a second successive domestic fixture, losing 3-0 at home against Marseille.

Match preview

© Reuters

A long journey from the North of France to Corsica proved worthwhile as the visitors weathered an early storm before settling into the match nicely with a pair of first-half tallies on Friday.

If not for an outstanding early stop from goalkeeper Leo Jardim on Vincent Marchetti in the seventh minute, that game could have gone very differently for Lille, who have won two of their last three away games in the top flight after going winless in their previous three.

Adopting a more attack-minded system under new boss Paulo Fonseca has come at a cost, as Les Nordistes have already conceded 10 goals domestically in the new campaign, which is one more than they allowed in 1978-79 at that point of the season.

Lille have struggled defensively at home as well, conceding eight goals in their opening two matches played at Stade Pierre-Mauroy.

One thing that has been close to a sure bet with this team lately is when they can draw first blood Les Dogues rarely walk away empty-handed, suffering only one defeat in their last 50 top-flight fixtures in which they had tallied first.

In this exact fixture last season, Les Lillois conceded three times in the opening half, losing 4-0, their worst-ever defeat to Nice in the top flight.

© Reuters

A massive disappointment is how manager Lucien Favre characterised another defeat for his side on Sunday, and those three words could sum up the campaign for Nice at the moment.

Coming off a season in which they finished fifth with 66 points, their highest total since 2016-17 (78 points), there were high expectations for the club from the French Riviera heading into 2022-23.

There is a belief that the transfer window has disrupted their rhythm from last season, with the team adding several new faces who have struggled to make an early impact.

While they have not looked all that cohesive as a unit in their four league matches, Favre has denied the idea that the transfer window has played a part in their early failures.

Instead, he called out his players against Marseille for giving the ball away cheaply while lacking the energy to win the ball back and defend.

With their Europa Conference League campaign now in full swing, their Swiss coach has had a tough time keeping his players fresh as Nice have not had a whole week to rest between Ligue 1 games since their opening two fixtures of the season.

Nice have conceded the opening goal in three straight league fixtures on the road dating back to the end of last season, though they tallied the opener in both matches against Lille domestically in 2021-22.

Team News

© Reuters

Jonathan Bamba is tied with Jonathan David for most goals on the team this season, tallying his second last Friday for Lille, as David missed a penalty in the latter stages, while Yusuf Yazici and Tiago Djalo each picked up their first of the campaign in that triumph.

David and Remy Cabella are tied for first with two assists each for les Dogues up to this point of the 2022-23 campaign.

Ismaily collected his first assist in their previous encounter, and Isaac Lihadji is still searching for his first of the new season after setting up four goals in 2021-22.

Tim Weah is out with a foot issue, Cabella is nursing a thigh injury, while we saw Fonseca made two changes to the starting 11 against Ajaccio with Djalo and Edon Zhegrova entering the fold in place of Alexsandro Ribeiro and Gabriel Gudmundsson.

Aaron Ramsey and Andy Delort are the only players to have found the back of the net for Nice domestically this season, while Alexis Claude-Maurice and Alexis Beka Beka both tallied in their 2-0 triumph over Maccabi Tel Aviv, enabling them to advance to the group stage of the Europa Conference League, winning that tie 2-1 on aggregate.

Kasper Dolberg had a brace in this exact fixture last season, with the other tallies coming courtesy of Hicham Boudaoui and Amine Gouiri.

Boudaoui and Dolberg are unlikely to feature in midweek because of a back and shoulder injury, respectively, while Mario Lemina will have to sit out of another match, as he and Jean-Clair Todibo were both red carded in their 1-0 defeat to Clermont.

Lille possible starting lineup:
Jardim; Gudmundsson, Djalo, Fonte, Diakite; Gomes, Andre; Bamba, Yazici, Martin; David

Nice possible starting lineup:
Schmeichel; Lotomba, Dante, Viti, Bard; Rosario, Thuram; Pepe, Ramsey, Brahimi; Delort

We say: Lille 2-0 Nice

Nice seem to have too many distractions in the early going of the new campaign, which has affected their play as they look disorganised while also lacking chemistry.

Lille may look a little suspect at the back, but they are in fine form in the attacking third, and we expect their individual quality will carry them through on Wednesday.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

Written by
Joel Lefevre

Previews by email