Saint-Etienne vs Nice prediction, preview, team news and more | Ligue 1 2020-21

France’s Ligue 1 gets started again this weekend following the international break. Sunday will see a match between Saint-Etienne and Nice, who are currently sitting on identical points in seventh and eighth place respectively.

Both sides have seen mixed results during the current campaign, but it will be interesting to see which of these two sides emerges victorious when Nice visit the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard.

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Saint-Etienne vs Nice Head-to-Head

Saint-Etienne have had an inconsistent start to the current season. Under the management of former Leicester boss Claude Puel, they flew out of the blocks with three wins from three, including a victory over Marseille. However, since late September, their form has dipped and they’ve now lost their last two fixtures.

Nice have also won three of their six games during 2020-21, defeating Lens, Strasbourg and Nantes. Like Saint-Etienne, they’ve also lost two games and drawn one.

Last season’s results saw Saint-Etienne hammer Nice 4-1 in one of their better results of the campaign, but the return match at the Allianz Riviera Stadium was cancelled due to COVID-19 curtailing the Ligue 1 season.

Saint-Etienne form guide: W-W-D-L-L

Nice form guide: W-L-L-D-W

📸 La #TeamASSE at work ! 🤜🤛 pic.twitter.com/XrVLECcxGr

— AS Saint-Étienne (@ASSEofficiel) October 9, 2020

Saint-Etienne vs Nice Team News

Disciplinary issues will heavily affect Saint-Etienne in this game. Yvan Neyou is suspended due to an accumulation of yellow cards, while both Wahbi Khazri and Timothee Kolodziejczak are also sidelined due to receiving straight red cards in their side’s loss to Lens.

Yvann Macon, Mathieu Debuchy and Charles Abi will also be unavailable for this game due to injuries.

Injured: Yvann Macon, Mathieu Debuchy, Charles Abi

Doubtful: None

Suspended: Wahbi Khazri, Timothee Kolodziejczak

Nice have two injury issues to concern them. Both Alexis Claude-Maurice and Youcef Atal are unavailable due to injuries, although they’re both expected to return in late October.

Injured: Alexis Claude-Maurice, Youcef Atal

Doubtful: None

Suspended: None

🎙 'We can't wait!' Join Gym captain @dante_bonfim as he looks ahead to a huge three weeks for Les Rouge et Noir! 📽 https://t.co/Uk6v064oEP pic.twitter.com/aurBjtG6iS

— OGC Nice 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@ogcnice_eng) October 14, 2020

Saint-Etienne vs Nice Predicted XI

Saint-Etienne predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Jessy Moulin, Aimen Moueffek, Harold Moukoudi, Panagiotis Retsos, Kevin Monnet-Pacquet, Zaydou Youssouf, Mahdi Camara, Arnaud Nordin, Adil Aouchiche, Denis Bouanga, Romain Hamouma

Nice predicted XI (4-3-3): Walter Benitez, Jordan Lotomba, Robson Bambu, Dante, Hassane Kamara, Pierre Lees-Melou, Morgan Schneiderlin, Kephren Thuram, Rony Lopes, Kasper Dolberg, Myziane Maolida

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Saint-Etienne vs Nice Prediction

Usually this would be considered a pretty close game, but the biggest factor here could be Saint-Etienne’s depleted defence. Without the injured Debuchy and Macon and the suspended Kolodziejczak, Claude Puel’s back line is expected to struggle here.

With the likes of Dolberg and Thuram, Nice definitely have the firepower to hurt their opponents, and assuming they can shut down the threat of Bouanga and Hamouma, they should be able to pick up a win.

Prediction: Saint-Etienne 1-2 Nice