In one of the standout matches in Ligue 1 this weekend, top-four battlers Lille and Nice face off at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy on Friday night.
Nice leapfrogged Lille into the Champions League places last weekend, taking advantage of some underwhelming form from Les Dogues of late.
Match preview
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Calling Lille recent form underwhelming does sound a tad harsh, because Bruno Genesio has led them on a club-record unbeaten run over the past four months.
Remarkably, Lille are now 20 games unbeaten in all competitions, with 13 of them coming in Ligue 1, their longest in the league since when they were reigning champions in 2011.
Last week's trip to Auxerre posed a threat to that unbeaten record, but while Lille got through it unscathed, they will feel they should have taken all three points.
Jonathan David saw a second-half penalty saved by Auxerre stopper Theo De Percin, and considering Paul Joly was sent off in conceding it, Lille will be disappointed that they did not manage to find a winner in the final 35 minutes, as the game ended goalless.
That paired with Nice's 4-2 win at Reims saw Les Dogues drop out of the top four, with too many draws costing Genesio's side domestically.
However, a morale-boosting win came in midweek, when Lille travelled to the Stade Velodrome and beat Marseille on penalties in the last 32 of the Coupe de France.
After conceding a 96th-minute equaliser to Luis Henrique, Lille may have been forgiven for being floored by that, but they stepped up and won the shootout, scoring all of their penalties, while Vito Mannone saved two from the hosts to send them through.
The home crowd will hope that can lead them to improving their dismal record against Nice, because incredibly, Lille have won just two of their last 16 home matches against their upcoming opponents, and they both came under Christophe Galtier in 2019 and 2021.
Nine of those have ended in draws though, and the only fixture to have produced more draws in Ligue 1 in the 21st century than this one (19) is Bordeaux vs. Marseille (21).
It has been all about wins of late for Nice though, as another last weekend took them one point above Lille into fourth.
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In what has been a remarkable turnaround for Franck Haise's young side, they have taken 20 points from a possible 27, after winning only 10 from their first eight games of the season.
Nice continued that momentum in midweek too, with a much less dramatic last-32 tie in the Coupe de France compared to Lille, beating Bastia 1-0 on the road to seal their spot in the round of 16.
It means that they have now failed to win just one of their last six domestic matches, but surprisingly that came against bottom-of-the-table Montpellier in December.
It is Nice's attack that is seeing them climb the standings too, because even though they have only kept three clean sheets in Ligue 1 this season, they have fallen to defeat just once in their last 13 games.
Team News
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Lille boss Genesio will hope to welcome back winger Edon Zhegrova as soon as possible after going four games without the man that is tussling with David and Lucas Chevalier for the club's player of the season award.
Fellow winger Mathias Fernandez-Pardo remains out with an ankle issue, while knee injuries have kept Samuel Umtiti and Tiago Santos sidelined for some time now.
Nice will be desperately hoping defensive duo Jonathan Clauss and Moise Bombito can return immediately, with both having been some of the starring players this season.
Morgan Sanson's ankle issue will keep him out of this one, while attacking pair Jeremie Boga and Terem Moffi are also unavailable due to injury.
While much of the Nice attack is young and prospering, they have been outshone by the experienced Gaetan Laborde in previous weeks, with the 30-year-old having now scored four in his last three Ligue 1 games, and he has also netted in three of his last four meetings with Lille.
Lille possible starting lineup:
Chevalier; Mandi, Diakite, Alexsandro, Ismaily; Andre, Andre Gomes, Bouaddi; Cabella, David, Haraldsson
Nice possible starting lineup:
Bulka; Clauss, Ndayishimiye, Bombito, Bard; Boudaoui, Ndombele, Bouanani; Guessand, Laborde, Cho
We say: Lille 1-1 Nice
Two unstoppable forces in Ligue 1 meet here, with Lille unbeaten in 20 games, and Nice in the best of form of any club not named Paris Saint-Germain in the division.
Neither side will be content with a cagey encounter, but there is very little to separate the two, so yet another draw in this fixture is on the cards.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Andrew Delaney
