MY ACCOUNT
– Nantes have failed to win any of their last 14 Ligue 1 matches
– Both teams have scored in Angers’ last seven league games
– Recommended bet: Angers at 13/2 with LiveScore Bet
Nantes need a victory on the final day of the Ligue 1 campaign to have any chance of avoiding relegation and, on the face of it, a home clash with Angers is the perfect fixture for them.
The visitors are bottom of the table and, along with Troyes and Ajaccio, they will be playing Ligue 2 football next season.
If Nantes win and Auxerre drop points at home to second-placed Lens then they will stay up, but the Canaries are on a 14-game winless run in the league and may not have things all their own way.
Team news
Defender Sebastien Corchia is still sidelined for Nantes and on-loan forward Evann Guessand is also unlikely to feature, having missed his side’s last two matches, a 3-0 home defeat at the hands of Montpellier and a 2-1 loss ay Lille.
Angers are set to be without experienced skipper Nabil Bentaleb, Faouzi Ghoulam, Amine Salama and Souleyman Doumbia, but defender Ousmane Camara could be available after returning from France Under-20 duty.
The stats
Nantes have failed to win any of their last 14 Ligue 1 matches, while three of Nantes’ last six home league games have ended 2-2.
Nantes have scored just one goal in their last five league matches and both teams have scored in Angers’ last seven Ligue 1 games.
Angers have lost 14 of their 18 away matches in the French top-flight this season, while nine of Angers’ 27 league defeats this term have been by a 2-1 scoreline.
Prediction
The final-day fixture list boosts Nantes’ chances of escaping relegation, as they host the worst team in Ligue 1 and survival rivals Auxerre must beat high-flying Lens to make sure of their top-flight status.
However, Nantes have had a dismal campaign, winning just six of their 37 league matches and scoring once in their last five games, so they are hard to trust at short odds to beat Angers.
All the pressure is on the home side, whose caretaker manager Pierre Aristouy was unimpressed by their most recent effort on their own patch, a limp 3-0 defeat to Montpellier.
Angers have been adrift at the bottom for most of the season, but they are playing with freedom after their relegation to Ligue 2 was confirmed, scoring in each of their last nine matches.
That sequence includes a 1-0 home win over fourth-placed Lille and a 2-1 defeat to champions Paris Saint-Germain, while they have scored six goals on their last four away trips to Clermont, Rennes, Marseille and Reims.
Their respectable 2-2 draw at Reims was followed by a 2-1 home win over fellow relegated club Troyes last weekend and Angers are worth a small bet at a huge price to sign off a tough season with a victory at nervy Nantes.
