Saint-Etienne vs Strasbourg 13/09/20

13 September 2020

Saint-Etienne and Strasbourg go head-to-head at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard for a potentially high-scoring Ligue 1 affair. Curiously, four of their last five top-flight H2Hs have seen both teams on the scoresheet, with three producing over 2.5 goals.

St Etienne got off to a perfect start to their Ligue 1 season, beating newly-promoted Lorient 2-0 on home turf to respond to a disappointing end to the last season. Indeed, ‘Les Verts’ failed to pick up a single win from the final seven league fixtures of 20192 (D2, L5), mainly thanks to a lack of firepower in the attacking third. Claude Puel’s men drew a blank in three of those seven matches while netting precisely once per game in three of the other four. Strasbourg could be the ideal adversary to help the hosts solve their goalscoring problems. ‘Les Stéphanois’ have scored precisely two goals per match in each of their previous three top-flight H2Hs held at this venue, winning two of them (D1).

On the other hand, the visitors have started the new season with a whimper rather than a bang, losing both of their opening Ligue 1 fixtures. Both defeats came via a two-goal margin, with three of the five goals they conceded across those failures coming inside the opening 15 minutes of the second half. Taking into account their form from the final stage of the last season, ‘Les Coureurs’ have now won only once in their previous four Ligue 1 trips (D1, L2), scoring under 1.5 goals on each of those occasions. It also took Strasbourg a while to find their footing on the road at the beginning of 2019/20, as five of their opening six away league games then resulted in a loss (D1).