Football – France – Ligue 1
Sunday 21st December 2014 – Kickoff: 1600hrs
St Etienne will go in search of a tenth game unbeaten in Ligue 1 when they entertain struggling Evian on Sunday afternoon.
St Etienne currently occupy fourth place in the French top flight but they will be mindful of the chasing pack of teams behind them such as Bordeaux and Monaco who are hard on their heels, waiting for them to slip up. The hosts have won three of their last four though as they’ve registered wins over Lyon 3-0, Montpellier 2-0 and Bastia 1-0 which has kept them in the hunt for a Europa League berth.
St Etienne’s home record stands at 5-3-1 11/4 and again, they’ve won three of their last four on home turf with wins over Metz 1-0, Lyon 3-0 and Bastia 1-0 along with a 1-1 draw with Monaco. Former Norwich City flop van Wolfswinkel along with Gradel look the best anytime goalscorer bets for St Etienne.
Visitors Evian TG head into today’s clash at St Etienne having suffered back-to-back defeats against Lyon 3-2 at home and a 3-2 loss away at Reims which has prevented them from pulling away from the bottom three of Ligue 1.
Evian had previously registered three straight wins with victories against Nice, Guingamp and Bastia although all three opponents are placed in the bottom half of the division and two of the three wins were recorded at home.
Their away record stands at 2-0-6 9/17 with both of their away wins coming at bottom half clubs Lorient and Bastia but they’ve really struggled at the top teams with a heavy 6-2 defeat at Rennes and further losses at Bordeaux, Monaco and Montpellier.
St Etienne then are my pick for this match to not only win but to cover the -1 handicap as well as their quality should shine through here this afternoon. Could be a 2-0 win for the hosts.
Pick: St Etienne AH-1 @ 1.88 bet365
