Clermont head into their 21st game of the Ligue 1 campaign still searching for their first win of the year when they host Strasbourg on Wednesday at the Stade Gabriel Montpied.
Les Lanciers sit just a point above the relegation zone following a 4-0 defeat to Monaco at the weekend, while Strasbourg scored three times in the final 15 minutes on Sunday, stunning Montpellier 3-1.
Match preview
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Some costly mistakes opened the floodgates for Les Monegasques on Sunday as Clermont were outclassed by Monaco in the second half especially, losing on the road for the seventh time in their last nine domestic encounters.
That match was a big step backwards for Pascal Gastien and his team, who conceded three or more goals in a game for the sixth time in this domestic campaign after posting back-to-back clean sheets.
Following that lopsided defeat, Gastien noted that his players suffered some mental lapses while giving the ball away far too often, two areas that the Ligue 2 runners-up from a season ago have tried fixing throughout this campaign without much success.
They have yet to find the back of the net this year and have struggled to create enough quality opportunities in the attacking zone, firing just a single shot on target in their Coupe de France defeat to Bastia and only being able to muster six shots in total this past weekend.
Gastien has admitted that his side seem to be playing a little too passively at the beginning of their league games, seemingly intimidated when facing teams who have been in the top flight for quite some time.
Despite being winless in four straight league contests on their home field, they have managed to earn points in consecutive matches at Stade Gabriel Montpied, holding Stade de Reims scoreless earlier this month, allowing only two efforts on target in that game which saw them reduced to 10 men when defender Alidu Seidu received a straight red card in the 14th minute.
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The loss of their top goalscorer through suspension was not enough to end Strasbourg's momentum as the Alsacien team remained unbeaten in league play in 2022, having now lost only once in their last nine domestic affairs.
A controversial red card to Montpellier substitute Elye Wahi seemed to change the fortunes of Les Bleu et Blanc, who played a somewhat stagnant opening half of football, rarely threatening La Paillade before gaining the numerical advantage.
Julien Stephan has this group eyeing a place in Europe next season, currently sitting in seventh, a point behind Monaco for fifth and a spot in the Europa Conference League qualifiers.
Strasbourg have consistently earned points in Ligue 1 of late, averaging 2.4 per match since the start of December (12 in their last five league games), with Lille being the only top-flight side at the moment with a higher points per game average (2.5) over that time.
While there is plenty of reason for optimism for the Eastern French team, they will want to make sure that they do not look past their opponents on Wednesday, especially knowing that this club have lost nine matches against newly-promoted Ligue 1 sides since Le Racing moved back into the top flight in 2017-18.
When this team can jump ahead to an early lead, Les Coureurs are virtually unstoppable, as Strasbourg and Paris Saint-Germain are the only two clubs in the league this season who have not dropped points when scoring first, having won all six times when that has occurred in this campaign.
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Team News
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Clermont could have Seidu and Johan Gastien back in the lineup for this game after they each missed the match versus Les Rouges et Blancs this past weekend through suspension.
Jean-Claude Billong is out with an ankle injury, while Saif-Eddine Khaoui is with Tunisia at the moment for the Africa Cup of Nations, Mohamed Bayo is representing Guinea and Jim Allevinah helped rescue a point for Gabon with an 88th-minute strike in their 1-1 draw with Ghana on Friday.
After collecting his first clean sheet of 2022 in a 0-0 draw with Reims, goalkeeper Ouparine Djoco had to face 10 shots against Monaco over the weekend, as he has now conceded multiple goals in three league fixtures since taking over the goalkeeping duties from Arthur Desmas in November.
On Sunday, Cedric Hountondji replaced Seidu in central defence and Salis Abdul Samed started as a holding midfielder rather than the suspended Gastien.
Strasbourg striker Habib Diallo has come on as a substitute for Senegal in both of their matches at the Africa Cup of Nations, while Alexander Djiku has started in defence for both of the Ghana encounters at that competition so far.
Ludovic Ajorque is eligible to return after the leading scorer for Les Coureurs sat out of their match on Sunday due to yellow card accumulation, while Moise Sahi Dion continues to recover from a muscle injury.
Matz Sels replaced Eiji Kawashima in goal as the Japanese international was forced out due to COVID and Maxime Le Marchand is still a couple of months away from being fit after suffering from back spasms.
Abdul Majeed Waris notched his first this season over the weekend, while a glancing header from Adrien Thomasson, who assisted their equaliser, gave his side the victory and Kevin Gameiro added some insurance with his fifth of the campaign.
Clermont possible starting lineup:
Djoco; Mendy, Albert, Hountondji, Zedadka; Busquets, Magnin; Diaby, Berthomier, Dossou; Hamel
Strasbourg possible starting lineup:
Sels; Guilbert, Nyamsi, Caci; Aholou, Sissoko, Prcic, Kandil, Thomasson; Gameiro, Ajorque
We say: Clermont 0-3 Strasbourg
With Ajorque likely back in the fold for Le RCS, Clermont could be in for a long match against a side who have scored 13 goals in their previous five league fixtures.
Strasbourg possess a ton of depth and quality in the final third, even without their big striker, and we do not expect them to have much trouble with a side who tend to make their share of mental errors on a regular basis.
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 Clermont win with a probability of 39.44%. A win for Strasbourg had a probability of 33.39% and a draw had a probability of 27.2%.
The most likely scoreline for a Clermont win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.02%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.34%) and 2-0 (7.14%). The likeliest Strasbourg win was 0-1 (9.95%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.88%). The actual scoreline of 0-2 was predicted with a 5.8% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted that Strasbourg would win this match.
