Nantes vs Saint-Étienne Prediction - Can Les Verts Still Dream Of A Place At The Champions League Next Season?

Next Saturday Saint-Étienne will travel to Pays de la Loire to measure forces with Nantes at Stade de la Beaujoire for round 37 of the French Ligue 1 on a match that Les Verts need to win desperately if they still want to reach Lille at the third place of the table and grant a place at the UEFA Champions League next season.

Last weekend, Saint-Étienne entertained Montpellier at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard and obtained what one can call an easy 2-0 win, thanks to second half goals from Romain Hamouma and Mevlut Erding. Les Verts clinched their second consecutive and claimed their seventh match without being defeated, something that they will try to extend next Saturday when they visit Nantes.

Saint-Éttienne have had a fantastic campaign at Ligue 1 so far this season with just nine defeats in thirty-six matches and with the fourth best defence line of the competition.

For next Saturday’s match against Nantes, Christophe Galtier is not yet certain if he will be able to rely on the contribution of the Guinean defender Florentin Pogba, on the French defender Jean-Pascal Mignot, and on the French midfielder Josuha Guilavogui, who is on loan from Atlético Madrid, since all of them are not fully recovered from their respective injuries.

As for Nantes, the next Saturday’s match could mean a big leap within the Ligue 1 table in case of win. If Nantes manage to defeat Saint-Étienne and their closest rivals Lorient, Toulouse and Bastia lose their respective matches, Les Canaris will be able to climb two places at the table and reach Stade Reims, who are currently on the 8th place.

Last week, Nantes grabbed a draw on their visit to Toulouse and extended their undefeated streak to four matches.

For next Saturday’s clash, Michel Der Zakarian will not be able to count on the Serbian striker Filip Djordjevic and on the French forward Johan Audel, due to injury, while the Senegalese defender Papy Djilobodji will also miss the match after being sent off during the team’s last match against Montpellier.

When both sides met at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard back in December, Saint-Étienne dominated the match and won 2-0 thanks to goals from Corgnet and Erdinç. Although both teams are currently enjoying a positive moment, Saint-Étienne are favourites for next Saturday’s match as they still nurture some faint hopes of reaching Lille on the league table, thus granting a ticket to the UEFA Champions League Qualifying round next season.

Nantes

Stats: W-12 L-15 D-9

Recent Form - LWWDD

Saint-Éttiene

Stats: W-18 L-9 D-9

Recent Form - DDDWW

Possible Line-ups

Nantes (4-3-3) - Riou - Vizcarrondo - Veigneau - Alhadhur - Djidji - Deaux - Bedoya - Veretout - Nicolita - Bessat - Gakpé

Saint-Éttiene (4-5-1) - Ruffier - Perrin - Sall - Tremoulinas - Brison - Clement - Lemoine - Gradel - Corgnet - Hamouma - Erdinç

Prediction

Nantes 1 Saint-Étienne 2