Saint-Etienne vs Nice Prediction: Stalemate in the offing in play-off first leg

Saint-Etienne face Nice in the first leg of the Ligue 1 promotion/relegation play-offs (7:45pm, Ligue 1+). The hosts finished third in the second tier and now aim to dislodge a Nice side who played in this side’s Europa League. 

Read on for my Saint-Etienne vs Nice predictions ahead of this high-stakes clash.

Team News

Saint-Etienne suffered for their art in the semi finals, losing goalkeeper Gauthier Larsonneur, centre back Julien Le Cardinal and midfield starlet Luan Gadegbeku to injury in a breathless penalty-shootout victory over Rodez.

The enforced change between the sticks worked, with replacement shot-stopper Brice Maubleu saving four penalties in the shootout. He looks likely to continue in net, though Les Verts will be without Florian Tardieu (calf), Mahmoud Jaber (surgery), Paul Eymard (foot) and Nadir El Jamali (knee).

Football Odds

Nice centre back Youssouf Ndayishimiye is missing with a muscle injury while defensive colleague Moise Bombito is sidelined with a broken leg. Young midfielder Everton is out with a muscle injury.

Saint-Etienne vs Nice Odds

The hosts are priced at 5/4 to prevail in this first leg. Nice are marketed at 2/1 while you can back the draw at 5/2.

The goalscorers market is led by Lucas Stassin, who is 11/2 to bag first or 9/5 to do so at any time.

Draw and both teams to score @ 7/2

First legs are often cagey affairs. Venture too much and watch your gains collapse. While the second leg is the time for blood and thunder, the initial meeting is often a feeling-out process.

The absorbing element of the promotion/relegation format is you essentially get a second-tier team in decent form against a top-flight club in peril. Nice have won just one of their last 10 games in all competitions. 

Saint-Etienne will look to capitalise on that spluttering form and close the quality gap that undeniably exists between the third-best team in Ligue 2 and a club that played in this season’s Europa League.

I don’t think either will blow the doors off, but equally these aren’t defensively-dogmatic sides. Both sides scored when these teams met in the Coupe de France back in December. Nice prevailed 2-1 with a 90th-minute Morgan Sanson winner. Their recent travails do not convince me they can perform such a late rescue mission here. I think they settle for the draw and leave the job to be finished at home.

Zuriko Davitashvili to score anytime @ 21/10

It has been a bumper year for the Saint-Etienne winger. Davitashvili’s 14 Ligue 2 goals have been a vital cog in the machine, firing his side within 180 minutes of the top division.

Davitashvili has always been a source of goals, but this is his most prolific season yet. Look for the Georgia international to poke holes in a Nice defence low on confidence and profit with a goal.

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