This Sunday, OGC Nice travels to Lens for the 16th day of Ligue 1. On the field of the league leader, the Aiglons will attempt to put an end to an interminable negative series. All the pre-match information for this encounter can be found here.
Eight games! OGC Nice is in the midst of a crisis: the Gym has lost the last eight matches it has played across all competitions. The Aiglons are experiencing the worst series in the club’s history. Franck Haise’s players are slipping, and plummeting dangerously down the rankings, in Ligue 1. The Niçois only have five points more than the current playoff team, AJ Auxerre. The problems run deep, and the club from the Côte d’Azur is chasing a first league victory since the end of October, with a win for the red and blacks against LOSC (2-0).
Against Braga on Thursday, Franck Haise decided to roll out the rotation strategy in his starting eleven. The coach of OGC Nice chose to reintroduce some struggling summer signings (Isak Jansson, Kevin Carlos, Salis Abdul Samed), or by starting Tanguy Ndombele. The midfielder, absent for more than nine months, made his first start of the season. Without success! The Gym stumbled once again in Europa League. Against the Portuguese club, Melvin Bard’s teammates were punished again on yet another defensive blunder (0-1). A system change may be implemented again by the Nice staff.
OGC Nice travels to the leader’s home
For this trip to the north of France, Franck Haise will still be without Moïse Bombito, Mohamed Abdelmonem, Youssouf Ndayishimiye, and Dante, who are injured. Neither Jérémie Boga nor Terem Moffi will make the trip either. The two forwards are still on sick leave following the events that occurred nearly two weeks ago, after the lost match in Lorient (1-3).
Sent off for a nasty challenge last weekend against Angers, Tom Louchet is automatically suspended for this match. After appearing before the disciplinary committee midweek, the OGC Nice midfielder now knows his sanction. He will miss the next three matches of his team. Besides this game in Lens, the player trained at the Gym will not participate in the 32nd final of the Coupe de France against Saint-Étienne, and the home game against Strasbourg inLigue 1 after the winter break.
On the other hand, RC Lens is having a more than successful start to the season. For the past two days, the Blood and Gold have taken the top of Ligue 1, ahead of Paris Saint-Germain and Olympique de Marseille. Pierre Sage’s players are asserting themselves as a surprise team in the race for the podium. In the league, Malang Sarr’s former teammates remain on a streak of five consecutive wins, the latest being last weekend against Nantes (2-1). The Artesians will be able to rely on the return of their captain, Adrien Thomasson, suspended against the Canaries.
Probable line-ups:
Lens: Risser – Ganiou, Baidoo, Sarr – Aguilar, Sangaré, Thomasson, Udol – Thauvin, Edouard, Said
Nice: Diouf – Clauss, Mendy, Oppong, Bard – Sanson, Boudaoui, Vanhoutte – Diop, Carlos, Cho.
