Lens vs. Lyon Preview

By: Inara | January 19th, 2008

This is going to be an abbreviated match preview. With the African Cup of Nations starting tomorrow, I have my hands full with the Ghana World Cup Blog, so don’t be alarmed if I don’t post as frequently as I normally do.

Tomorrow, Lyon will be traveling to Lens in what is definitely not a clash of the titans. Whereas this time last year, when Lens was Lyon’s nearest challenger (and I use the term “near” very loosely), this year, nineteen places separate the two teams.

January 20th, 2008
Stade Felix-Bollaert, Lens
2:55 PM Eastern Time (20:55 in France)

Match background:

Lens are currently sitting in 19th place, but it’s hard to tell if their season is improving since the break or becoming worse. They lost to Paris 3-0 at the Parc de Princes last weekend, but during their Coupe de la Ligue match against Nancy, they beat them 3-0. Scoring three goals against the team with the meanest defense in L1 is no easy feat.

Lens aren’t hit too hard by the African Cup of Nations, having only lost Aruna Dindane to the Ivory Coast and Adam Coulibaly to Mali. Though Dindane is Lens’ highest scorer in the league this year. Lens have also recently signed Nadir Belhadj from Lyon, so we’ll be seeing him play against his old team. Count on him to put in a great performance, which will make Lyon regret selling him.

As for Lyon – well, they missed out on the Coupe de le Ligue after they lost to a Le Mans squad made up of mostly bench players, so hopefully the players will react positively and get another victory. Winning here means another important three points to solidify their position at the top of the table.

Lyon info:

I’m back to reporting injuries. As we all know, Cleber Anderson will be out for the rest of the season after getting hit with the Lyon Curse of Knee Ligament Damage. Juninho will not be on the team either because he fractured his fifth toe while Sidney Govou is still out due to a pulled thigh muscle.

Le groupe lyonnais: Coupet, Vercoutre – Clerc, Réveillère, Squillaci, Paillot, Grosso , Bodmer – Källström, Toulalan, Crosas – Ben Arfa, Delgado, Mounier – Benzéma, Baros, Rémy, Fred.

The good news is that both Hatem Ben Arfa and Francois Clerc return to action, both having been judged sufficiently recovered. Cesar Delgado is also on the list of players that will be on the bench though Perrin has said that he’s not yet at peak form.

Tactics:

Coupet
Clerc – Squillaci – Bodmer – Grosso
Crosas – Toulalan – Kallstrom
Baros – Benzema – Ben Arfa

Due to injuries, Lyon will have to reshuffle their usual lineup. Due to Anderson’s absence, it’s most likely that Mathieu Bodmer will be paired with Sebastien Squillaci. And since Juninho is injured and Bodmer will play in defense, that leaves Marc Crosas to make his Lyon debut. It’ll be interesting to see how he does since most of us have never seen him play, nor do we know exactly what kind of midfield player he is, or what role he’ll be playing.

Francois Clerc should get the start since Anthony Reveillere played in the last two games. No choice about Fabio Grosso, Jeremy Toulalan, and Kim Kallstrom.

As for the front line, it will probably be Karim Benzema starting as striker unless Perrin wants to give him a rest. In that case, expect to see Milan Baros since Fred is still probably being punished for being himself. On the wings, we’ll definitely see Hatem Ben Arfa on the left and either Baros or Loic Remy on the right. Delgado will probably come off the bench.

Viewing options:

Setanta will be broadcasting this match. Sweet. Also, you can check here for links. I probably can’t post match links as I normally do before matches since I’ll be watching Ghana vs. Guinea and commenting on that, so if anyone of you find a good stream, I’d appreciate it if you could post it in the comments for the others.

Expected Result:

I’ll be optimistic for once. How about…2-1 for Lyon? It’s been a while since Lens have scored against us, but take a look at our defense!