This Saturday, the Gym hosts Le Havre as part of the 14th day of Ligue 1. After two consecutive defeats, the Aiglons want to bounce back in front of their home crowd. All the pre-match information can be found here.
Difficult period for OGC Nice! Between injuries and recent poor performances, the Aiglons have been struggling in recent days. The red and black team is coming off two heavy losses against the Rangers, and then on the field of OL (1-4) last weekend. A defeat that dropped the teammates of Pablo Rosario to 6th place in the Ligue 1 standings. The Niçois want to react and get back on track. On the occasion of welcoming Le Havre (this Saturday, kick-off at 7 pm), the Gym might maintain their unbeaten home streak in the championship. Since the start of the 2024/25 season, Franck Haise‘s players have never lost at the Allianz Riviera in a Ligue 1 match (3 wins and 3 draws).
The Gym wants to leave the refereeing controversies from OL-Nice behind. At the beginning of the week, the FFF recognized that a penalty should have been awarded to the Aiglons after a foul on Evann Guessand. Despite the VAR’s involvement and the video review, the match referee, Bastien Duchepy, did not agree. “I really struggle to understand, especially with the footage and audio we received this week. It’s even more concerning if I can put it that way. We were over the moon in Lyon,” said the Azuréen coach in the pre-match press conference on Thursday.
Still absences and still few returns
10! That’s the number of absentees, still this week, on the OGC Nice side. Dante (meniscus), Youssouf Ndayishimiye, Ali Abdi (tendon), Melvin Bard (foot), Antoine Mendy, Morgan Sanson (ankle), Jonathan Clauss (thigh), Mohamed-Ali Cho (hamstring), Victor Orakpo (pubalgia), and Terem Moffi (knee) are still in the infirmary and will not be available for this match. Franck Haise continues to work with a reduced and rejuvenated squad. This Thursday, the Aiglons coach had only twelve professional players at his disposal for the day’s session. An illustration of the injury crisis currently affecting the red and black squad.
And it might not end there! Sick, Hicham Boudaoui and Mohamed Abdelmonem did not train throughout the week. Weakened by a virus, both players are uncertain for the match against Le Havre. Nothing is going right for OGC Nice. In these conditions, Franck Haise might launch the young Amidou Doumbouya (17 years old), into an already youthful defense (average age of 20 among the four potential defenders). Finally, Jérémie Boga is expected to return to the squad. The Ivorian winger has resumed group training.
On the Le Havre side, the Gym will reunite with a familiar face from the Côte d’Azur: Didier Digard. The former player (2010 – 2015) and coach of Nice (January – June 2023) was appointed as the coach of the Normans last summer. For this reunion, he will be without Oussama Targhalline, Arouna Sangante, Andy Logbo, Yann Kitala, and Oualid El Hajjam, all injured.
Probable line-ups
Nice: Bulka – Louchet, Bombito, Doumbouya, Nandjou – Ndombele, Rosario (C), Diop – Bouanani, Guessand, Boga
Le Havre: Desmas – Casimir (C), Pembélé, Youté, Lloris, Operi – Kechta, Touré, Kuzyaev – Ayew, Soumaré
