Saint-Etienne vs Lorient 30/08/20

30 August 2020

Saint-Etienne launch the Ligue 1 season against newly-promoted Lorient at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, looking to post a fifth successive home win in their top-flight H2Hs.

It will be St. Etienne’s first competitive game since a 1-0 loss to PSG in the Coupe de France final. But, the hosts will be looking for a clean slate following a nightmare end to the 2019/20 Ligue 1 season that saw them lose five of their final seven league matches (D2). A genuine lack of firepower up front has now seen ‘Les Verts’ score under 1.5 goals in seven of their previous eight outings in all competitions. However, they must be confident of overcoming their scoring problems now, as they take on a side they’ve scored over 1.5 goals against in five of their last six top-flight H2Hs held at this venue (W5, L1).

Meanwhile, Lorient performed a stunning comeback to beat Strasbourg 3-1 at home on the opening matchday, starting their Ligue 1 campaign off on the right foot. Despite losing four of their final five Ligue 2 fixtures last season, the visitors finished top of the table to secure top-flight promotion after a three-year absence. Curiously, just one of Lorient’s 12 competitive matches this calendar year has ended in a stalemate (W6, L5). Yet, the majority (72.73%) of those results (wins/losses) have been notably tight, with eight of 11 seeing a single-goal margin separate the sides at FT. Also, going back to December 2019, six of Lorient’s seven away games have seen the winner on the day keep a clean sheet (W4, L3).