H2H: Nîmes vs Metz – Prediction (Ligue 1

H2H: Nîmes vs Metz – Comparison.

Renaud Ripart has been Nîmes’ first goalscorer in each of his last eight goalscoring league games. Meanwhile, Farid Boulaya (MTZ) opened the scoring last time out, while each of his last three league goals came in matches producing under 2.5 goals. Home teams have won none of the 2020/21 L1 matches refereed by Amaury Delerue ahead of the round (D1, L2).

Nîmes Insights.

Nîmes Olympique’s 2-0 away loss in their last Ligue 1 (L1) outing made it just one win from their previous seven top-flight fixtures (W1, D2, L4), with each the last five witnessing Nîmes fail to score before the 80th minute. Netting first could be a game decider, as just one of their last five L1 games (home/away) witnessed both sides score. Overall, the hosts’ home matches this L1 campaign (W1, D1, L2) have witnessed a league high of 4.0 goals per-game on average, with all but one of their four league games at Stade des Costières featuring over 3.5 goals. Furthermore, with an average of 2.0 goals after the hour mark across those four L1 home matches, this game could witness some late drama.

Metz Insights.

Visitors Metz saw their unbeaten run stretched to five league matches (W3, D2) – despite conceding first on two occasions – when they defeated St Étienne 2-0 at home last weekend. Significantly, all but one of their last seven L1 fixtures have featured a draw at HT, with five of those matches witnessing one goal from the 75th minute onward. However, the visitors are still looking for their first win on the road this L1 campaign (D2, L2), and failure to win here could see them match their effort from 2007/08 when they failed to win any of their first five L1 road trips. Therefore they will be especially keen for a good start considering they are unbeaten in the last nine L1 away games in which they netted before HT (W4, D5).