For the first time in Ligue 1 history, Angers will welcome Clermont to Stade Raymond Kopa in Western France on matchday 18.
Les Scoistes picked their first victory of December last Sunday, beating Stade de Reims 2-1, while Les Lanciers are in the midst of a seven-game winless run following their 1-0 defeat at Montpellier.
Match preview
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A new face on the bench at Angers seems to have signalled new ambitions for this little club, with no domestic trophies to speak of in their entire history.
Even though there was a level of consistency with them under their previous manager Stephane Moulin, this team seemed to be stuck in mediocrity for years in the French top flight, currently in their seventh consecutive Ligue 1 campaign, finishing in the bottom half of the table in each of their previous five seasons.
Under Gerald Baticle, they are off to an excellent start, currently in eighth on 25 points and one win away from a potential place in Europe next season.
One of the messages that the former AJ Auxerre striker has preached to his side is never being satisfied with a victory once in a while, plus a mentality to constantly move forward without resting on your laurels, as they have not lost consecutive games all year, while, only suffering one defeat in this campaign after a win.
Baticle knows a thing or two about scoring goals, and that is an area where this team have excelled under the former Lyon assistant as they have managed to find the back of the net in 19 of their previous 20 top-flight matches in France.
When they concede at home, we tend to see them panic, having given up at least two goals in five of their last 10 games played at Stade Raymond Kopa, with the opposition scoring 13 times total over that stretch.
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In their first campaign in the top flight, Clermont are learning what it takes to compete at this level with a mixture of success and failure early on.
While they put forth a pair of poor performances versus Paris Saint-Germain (4-0 loss) and Rennes (6-0 defeat), this group, in general, have shown plenty of resolve and fight to keep the rest of their games close.
At the moment, Pascal Gastien has his team in 18th with 14 points, which would put them in the relegation play-offs and while not the ideal scenario, there is plenty of wiggle room for them, sitting a mere two points back of Troyes, who are 15th.
The former Ligue 1 champion as a player with Marseille in 1988-89 has brought an aggressive attack-minded approach emphasising the ability to have fun.
They are not afraid to take risks going forward, and while you have to appreciate the fact that this team play to win, those tactics leave their defenders scrambling at times and susceptible in transition, conceding the third-most goals (32) in the league this season.
Coming into this contest, Clermont are winless in eight straight road matches played in Ligue 1, losing their last four by a single goal, the joint-longest ongoing run in the division alongside Lorient.
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Team News
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Sofiane Boufal moved ahead of Thomas Mangani for the lead in goals for Angers after scoring the opener and then assisting on the winner from Angelo Fulgini versus Stade de Reims.
Goalkeeper Paul Bernardoni is out with a lung contusion, so Danijel Petkovic will likely start in his place once again, despite conceding six goals in his previous three matches.
There were a few alterations to their starting 11 last Sunday as Souleyman Doumbia replaced Mangani in the midfield, Batista Mendy took the place of Vincent Manceau and Stephane Bahoken played alongside Boufal instead of Mohamed-Ali Cho.
Clermont had two new starters last Sunday as Arial Mendy and Jason Berthomier replaced Jean-Claude Billong and Jim Allevinah.
Mohamed Bayo has maintained his attacking prowess in the top flight as the Guinean striker, who led Ligue 2 with 22 goals last season, has eight already in this campaign, putting him into a tie for third in the league at the moment alongside Amine Gouiri, Habib Diallo and Martin Terrier.
Elbasan Rashani has chipped in with three assists in this campaign, which along with Berthomier is the most on the team so far this season, while Yadaly Diaby missed their last encounter with a red card suspension.
Angers possible starting lineup:
Petkovic; Thomas, Traore, Manceau; Mangani, Fulgini, Taibi, Ounahi, Cabot; Boufal, Bahoken
Clermont possible starting lineup:
Djoco; N'Simba, Ogier, Magnin, Zedadka; Gastien, Samed; Sidibe, Allevinah, Dossou; Bayo
We say: Angers 1-0 Clermont
Both teams know how to keep a game close, and we expect nothing different from this encounter, but Clermont are still learning what it takes to win those tight matches, whereas Angers are full of confidence which is understandable given their unexpected success early on.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Angers win with a probability of 44.42%. A win for Clermont had a probability of 29.38% and a draw had a probability of 26.2%.
The most likely scoreline for an Angers win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.11%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.98%) and 2-0 (8.01%). The likeliest Clermont win was 0-1 (8.64%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.45%). The actual scoreline of 0-1 was predicted with an 8.6% likelihood.
