Football – France – Ligue 1
Sunday 25th January 2015 – Kickoff: 1600hrs
Reims will be keen to bounce back from two recent defeats at the hands of Saint-Etienne and Caen, when they host second from bottom club Lens at home this Sunday afternoon.
But previously, Reims had put together back-to-back Ligue 1 wins against Evian TG (at home) and Rennes (away) which has helped maintain their current mid-table position. Reims’ overall home record stands at 6-1-4 16/17 which appears to be a bit so-so but they have already registered home wins over top table teams such as Bordeaux and Montpellier, while they’ve won four of their six matches at home against bottom half clubs so far.
Possible goalscorers for the hosts include Charbonnier, Moukandjo and former Liverpool forward N’Gog.
Visitors Lens also go into this afternoon’s encounter at Reims on the back of two straight defeats to Guingamp (away) and at home to Lyon, and they’ve recorded just two league wins from their last ten which incidentally were both achieved on home turf against fourth from bottom Metx and mid-table Nice.
But it’s on their travels where Lens have been most vulnerable as they’ve now gone five matches without an away win amidst an overall road record of 2-2-7 9/16. Lens have also failed to score on five occasions to date while keeping just two clean sheets at the back.
The visitors have lost four of their last five on the road with defeats at Marseille, Lorient, Monaco and Guingamp.
To sum up, both teams head into this clash o the back of defeats but I’ll give the hosts the nod here as I reckon they’re a bit more solid with home advantage as well. I do recommend taking the round ball though with the hosts perhaps edging this one 1-0.
Pick: Reims AH0 @ 1.65 Bet Victor
