http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Olympique-Lyonnais-c40130 Vs AS Saint-Etienne: French Ligue 1 preview
Week 12 of the 2011/2012 Ligue 1 Championelle will see Olympique Lyonnais host archrivals AS Saint-Etienne at the Stade Gerland on October 29, 2011.
Remi “En Garde” for Derby du Rhone
Lyon coach Remi Garde has warned his side of any complacency when they host bitter rivals Saint-Etienne in the Derby http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Du-c11689 Rhone which is perhaps the biggest match of the Week 12 of the current campaign.
Les Gones continued their phenomenal away record against Saint-Etienne when they beat Les Verts 2-1 in the round of 16 of the Coupe de la Ligue a few days ago. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Michel-Bastos-c25461 scored on either side of two halves for the visitors and Pierre-Emerick
Aubameyang scored a consolation goal for the hosts at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard.
Lyon have now set up a quarterfinal date with LOSC Lille at the expense of Saint-Etienne and Garde is expected to recall all of his first-choice players for the Ligue 1 encounter against their bitter rivals.
Garde has asked his players not to be overconfident despite a well deserved win over Saint-Etienne in the cup competition. While talking to the media, the young coach said, “The risk for us is to think that because we beat Saint-Etienne in the Coupe de la
Ligue then a league win will naturally spring up for us. Our opponents might change things around and they've got explosive forwards. I don't think there'll be any more tension than in a normal derby. It's another match and we'll be attentive.”
Lyon have dropped to fifth place in the Ligue 1 standings after two defeats in their last three Ligue 1 outings. Les Gones lost to Paris Saint-Germain and last week, they lost 3-1 to Lille and Garde is now looking to put his side back to winning ways in
order to stay in hunt for a Champions League spot.
Last season, Olympique Lyonnais lost 1-0 at home to Saint-Etienne through a goal by http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Dimitri-Payet-c11276 who is now at Lille. The defeat was one of the lowest points in the club’s recent history as that defeat condemned Lyon to the relegation zone at that time.
However, this season could be a whole lot different for both sides.
Saint-Etienne
Les Verts will be making the short trip to Stade Gerland on the back of four wins, four draws and three defeats in 11 games. Saint-Etienne are currently in 8th place in the Ligue 1 standings with 16 points from 11 games and the players would be
looking to take revenge on Lyon after crashing out of the Coupe de la Ligue at the hands of their ‘enemy’.
Last week, Christophe Galtier’s men won 1-0 at home to Valenciennes with http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Laurent-Batlles-c21731 giving the hosts a well deserved lead in the fifth minute of the second half.
Team news
Lyon
Argentine striker Lisandro Lopez was nearing a return to action but the former http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/John-Mensah-c18877 and Jeremy Pied are also out.
Saint-Etienne
Loic Perrin ruptured his knee ligament in August and the Saint-Etienne captain is not going to return until February. Sinama-Pongolle returned to action after a two-month layoff due to a thigh injury and is likely to feature at some stage of the game.
Prediction
Though Lyon lost at home when the two sides met last season, this time the result might be a bit different as Lyon are in great shape despite losing three of their last five games.
Predicted final score: Lyon 3-0 Saint-Etienne
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