FRENCH football expert Gary Clarke (@Gaz_Tips) shares this thoughts on Friday night's clash between Lille and Bordeaux.
Lille v Bordeaux | Friday 9th September 2017, 18:00
After a great victory on opening day for Marcelo Bielsa's Lille, things since then haven't quite gone to plan for the fiery Argentine. On paper, their opening four games all looked winnable, but after that initial first triumph, they've dropped losses in at Strasbourg and at home to Caen followed by a draw at Angers.
Lille’s transfer activity looked pretty impressive coming into the season but since the last round of games they decided to offload last season’s top marksman Nicholas De Preville to the team that they will line up against on Friday evening, Bordeaux.
While De Preville wasn't the most prolific of scorers, he will certainly leave a pretty big gap to fill up top for Les Dogues. Right now, this team has a fair few question marks against them.
Bordeaux
Bordeaux, on the other hand, will be pleased with their start to the season: unbeaten so far with two wins and two draws, with four pretty solid performances.
Unlike recent Bordeaux teams, they look really exciting going forward. Young Brazilian Malcolm has been sensational – his last-minute screamer against Lyon being his highlight. Younousse Sankhare has bagged in three goals and is a real handful who most teams will hate playing against and Francois Kamano has three assists to his name.
Jocelyn Gourvennec’s men should be aiming quite high this year; European football should defiantly be an achievable target for this Bordeaux.
The betting angle
Looking at the state of both of these sides, Bordeaux have to be the team we should be getting onside. After being shipped south by Bielsa, De Preville must come into this game highly motivated to prove the Argentine wrong.
Maybe the international break came just in time for LOSC but I think they’re running into a strong Bordeaux side. Take the away side with a 0 start on the Asian Handicap line at 26/25 (Bet365).
If Bordeaux win then the bet wins, if it’s a draw we‘ll see our stake returned.
Best Bets
Lille v Bordeaux – Bordeaux 0 Asian Handicap (26/25 (Bet365)
