Montpellier vs Olympique Lyonnais 16/09/20

16 September 2020

Montpellier and Olympique Lyonnais go head-to-head at the Stade de la Mosson in what could well be a high-scoring Ligue 1 contest. Five of their previous seven league H2Hs have seen both teams score, with three featuring over 3.5 match goals.

Montpellier bounced back after suffering a 2-1 away loss to Rennes on the opening matchday to beat Nice 3-1 on Matchday 2. Curiously, both of those matches saw the home side of the day open the scoring ahead of the 25-minute mark and win the first half via the identical 1-0 scoreline. Remarkably, ‘La Paillade’ have yet to taste defeat at home turf in 2020, picking up five wins from six competitive fixtures held at the Stade de la Mosson (D1). Notably, each of those games has seen Montpellier concede one goal or less, with three seeing Michel Der Zakarian’s side score over 2.5 goals. The hosts have a legitimate right to hope for another positive outcome here, having avoided defeat in all three of their previous top-flight H2Hs held at this venue (W1, D2).

Meanwhile, the visitors got off to a flying start to their Ligue 1 campaign, dismantling Dijon 4-1 at home on Matchday 1 but have failed to build on that. Indeed, they go into this encounter on the back of a goalless away draw with Bordeaux, which now means that they’ve drawn a blank in both of their previous Ligue 1 trips, last season included. Moreover, Lyon’s indifferent away form in 2019/20 (W6, D3, L6) was one of the reasons they failed to land European football. Also, slow-starting ‘Les Gones’ conceded the opening goal in ten (66.67%) of 15 top-flight trips last season though showed the ability to bounce back. Indeed, no team rescued more points (10) than Rudi Garcia’s side last season – record when allowing the opener (W3, D1, L6).