Football – France – Ligue 1
Sunday 25th January 2015 – Kickoff: 1600hrs
Mid-table Rennes secured a well earned point at home against fourth placed Saint-Etienne last Sunday which would have been considered a very good point indeed as they continue to recover from a recent run of three defeats on the trot.
Things seemed to be running along very nicely for the hosts as they’d put together an eight-match unbeaten run earlier which included six wins, but a poor run of form saw them lose three on the bounce to Montpellier, Bastia and Reims which has all but put their hopes of attaining a Europa League place to bed as they’re now 10 points adrift of Saint-Etienne and that all-important fourth position.
Nevertheless, they’ll view this encounter as a game they should win against a struggling Caen outfit, and with a pretty decent home record of 5-2-3 15/13 behind them, they should get something from this match.
Caen on the other hand currently sit bottom of Ligue 1 although they did manage to stem the flow of nine matches without a win last weekend when they beat Reims 4-1 at home to register their first league win since the end of October last year.
However, we shouldn’t forget that this win was recorded on home turf, and is rather the exception than the rule, particularly away from home where their record stands at 2-4-5 14/19 having lost their last three on the trot on the road.
In fact it’s four defeats from their last five with losses at Metz, Guingamp, Lyon and Lille and they’ve conceded 14 goals in their last five on their travels.
Given Caen’s brittle defence, I’ll back the hosts and give the quarter ball to edge the points in what could be a 2-1 win for Rennes.
Pick: Rennes AH-0.25 @ 1.69 Bet Victor
