Nantes vs Lens – Betting Preview
On Wednesday night, Nantes will play host to Lens in the Coupe de France quarterfinals with the visitors looking to eliminate the defending champions.
In the 2017 final, Nantes defeated Nice 1-0 to win France’s major domestic trophy for the fourth time in the club’s history.
Nantes Preview
Antoine Kombouare enjoyed a tremendously successful season last year in his first full season as manager of the team where he spent his formative years as a player, leading them to their first major title in more than 20 years.
La Maison Jaune also placed ninth in Ligue 1, which was their highest performance at France’s top level in four years. Nevertheless, this time around, a top-half finish appears to be a difficult task given that Reims are nine points ahead of them in 10th place.
Kombouare’s team has lost consecutive games in the league, including a 3-1 loss to Lens, who they will face in the Coupe de France, and was also eliminated from the Europa League by Juventus following a 3-0 loss at Beaujoire Stadium last week.
Despite the first leg’s 1-1 tie in Italy, where World Cup champion Angel Di Maria scored a spectacular hat-trick, Nicolas Pallois’s dismissal in the 17th minute proved to be too much of a challenge.
As a result, the 59-year-old will be driven to prevent his team’s season from fizzling out in the final few months of the year because he wants to join Raynald Denoueix as the only other managers in Nantes history to successfully defend the Cup de France.
Lens Preview
Since shockingly winning the domestic double in the 1997–98 season, Lens hasn’t experienced success in this competition.
Franck Haise has led Lens on an upward track, with two consecutive seventh-place finishes in Ligue 1, after leading the club back to the top division by leading the second division in 2020.
Les Sang et Or’s Champions League aspirations this season have been supported by an incredible record at Stadium Bollaert-Delelis. In fact, if they had defeated Montpellier on Saturday instead of drawing 1-1, they would currently be tied with Marseille for second place in the points standings and automatically qualify for the premier competition in Europe.
No matter where they finish in the league, Lens would automatically qualify for European football the next season if they won the Cup de France.
Given that the holders stand in the way of Haise’s chances of making it to the final four on Wednesday, he will be extremely driven to win his first trophy as a manager and celebrate the club’s new era with real success.
1×2 Betting Odds
Let’s analyse the 1×2 betting market.
There’s no denying that Lens are in better shape than Nantes going into this cup match, despite missing numerous players due to injury, thus we anticipate them to advance to the competition’s semifinals.
And in that regard even the market agrees. Despite being the home side, Nantes are the underdogs in this @ 4.85.
Lens are the favourites @ 1.88.
The market odds of a stalemate and that this one requires extra time to settle, stands @ 3.78.
Total goals over/under
Let’s analyse the over/under market.
The odds that the total number of goals scored will be over 2.5, stands @ 2.15.
While the odds that the total number of goals will be under 2.5, stands @ 1.87.
Well the market views this is a tight contest between two teams of equal ability.
But given everything, expect the away side to do enough for the victory!
