France - Ligue 1: PSG vs Auxerre Struggling PSG are looking to dislodge surprise leaders Auxerre from the top and at the same time increase their chances in the race for the European places. The Saints are sitting in 13th place after back to back defeats to Nice and Marseille and they desperately need a win to turn this season around. As far as Auxerre are concerned, what can we say about the team that recorded seven straight wins in Ligue 1?
Make or break time for the Saints
Coach Antoine Kombouare is hardly enjoying his time at PSG since his team are largely underperforming this season. The Saints are struggling to find their form and back to back defeats to Nice and Marseille have additionally damaged their confidence. The boss is angry with his players because they have the quality to match the best teams in the league but are instead lying in the dangerous zone. This is simply a must-win game for the hosts who need to rediscover their scoring form in no time. With players like Luyindula and Erding up front that is bound to happen and we see a good value in backing PSG to score over 1.5 goals at 2.20 offered by Sportingbet.
Guillaume Hoarau remain sidelined with knee injury but the good news is that Claude Makelel is back after missing the Marseille game through suspension. He will replace Clement Chantome, who picked up an injury against Marseille and will not be available for selection. Ludovic Giuly started the last match on the bench but he could be restored to the starting line-up, in which case Cristophe Jallet would return to the right-back.
Unbelievable run
After narrowly missing out on the relegation for a couple of years in a row, everybody expected another difficult season for Auxerre. However, after somewhat slow start, Jean Fernandez’s men embarked on a remarkable seven-match winning run and are currently occupying first place in the standings. They are clearly not going to remain in the title race for much longer but even a European qualification would be a tremendous success. The visitors are hardly the favourites in this clash but the players are brimming with confidence and we are positive they won’t be afraid to attack PSG. Therefore, we see a good value in backing Auxerre to score at 1.62 offered by Sportingbet.
Jean Fernandez is missing his top striker Ireneusz Jelen through injury and that will definitely be a problem. This means Denis Oliech is set to partner Daniel Niculae in attack, while Valter Birsa is back in contention after missing the last match because he came late from the international duty. However, Traore, Lejuene, Sidibe and Licata remain sidelined.
Betting verdict
We don’t think Auxerre can continue this latest run for much longer as they simply don’t have the quality to do so. PSG are the better team here and they are bound to come good very soon, thus we expect this to be the match that will kick-start their season and end Auxerre’s magnificent run.
Looking for livestream! Here it is! Our tip: Bet 5 on Home win
Odds -118 at
Bookmaker: BetCRIS
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