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Ligue 1 Preview: Saint-Etienne – Olympique Lyonnais

After the farce of last weekend’s main-event, Sainte and OL will be looking forward to the heated derby match in le Chaudron…

Oct 30, 2009 11:46:58 AM

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Medley Lyon - Saint-Etienne

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Kick-Off: Saturday, October 31, 2009. 21:00CET
Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Saint-Etienne

Fifteen Years Of Hurt

France is the only main European league that lacks an inter-city rivalry, so the closest that they can enjoy are the fixtures between Racing Club de Lens and Lille, and Saturday’s centrepiece, the tie between Saint-Etienne and Olympique Lyonnais. These regional clashes lack nothing of the ferocity of big derby encounters in other nations and this weekend’s fixture is hotly anticipated.

Sunday’s Clasico between Olympique de Marseille and Paris Saint-Germain proved to be a damp squib as the game was postponed because of the threat of swine flu, but thankfully there is no such problem in the centre of France.

Les Verts’ season has been almost the very definition of a rollercoaster, touching Alpine highs with success over Girondins de Bordeaux, but also tasting great lows, such as losing to Boulogne-Sur-Mer at home.

Alain Perrin’s men are currently in the middle of a trough, having lost back-to-back fixtures against Montpellier and Valenciennes - defeats that take them back into the vicinity of the relegation zone. However, their coach would cite a chronic injury situation at the club for their recent defeats, with as many as eight squad regulars missing last weekend.

Passion and commitment will be the least the home fans expect to see of their team on Saturday night. Victory over Lyon has been a long time in coming for les Verts, who have not seen their side win at home against their great rivals since 1994, although they do enjoy a great historical superiority in this fixture.

Fired Up

If any indication was needed of the feeling in this game, one need only speak to Lyon attacking midfielder Michel Bastos, who may be new to the occasion, but he is certainly pumped up.

Speaking on September 3 to France Football, he explained that he holds Sainte full-back Cedric Varrault in contempt, and the two men are likely to come face-to-face on several occasions on Saturday.

“I'm not saying this because I play in Lyon, but Cedric Varrault at Saint-Etienne, I don’t like him. I hate this guy!” Bastos declared. “I have no respect for him because he has misbehaved with me. In a championship game, I was successful, I made two assists. I can say it was my best game of the season, despite not scoring.

“That evening, Varrault had not been very good - he was very upset. At the end of the match, he found nothing better to do than berate me and threaten me repeatedly.

“In the return game, he was injured. He spent the game in the stands. You know, God sees everything. I did not need to respond to him. Nevertheless, I will never forgive him.”

OL will be doubly fired up because of their poor recent performances in recent weeks. They were defeated by Sochaux 2-0 at home and then lost away to Nice by an embarrassing 4-1 scoreline.

Despite beating Liverpool between these two fixtures, les Gones' Sidney Govou has been forced to come out in the press and rally his side before this encounter, instructing them to keep a focus on the league as well as European competition.

Keeping pace with the leaders at the expense of their local rivals is surely fuel enough for Claude Puel's outfit.

FORM

Saint-Etienne

LOST 2-0 (h) Valenciennes (Ligue 1, Matchday 10, October 24)

LOST 2-1 (a) Montpellier (Ligue 1, Matchday 9, October 17)

WON 3-1 (h) Girondins de Bordeaux (Ligue 1, Matchday 8, October 3)

WON 2-1 (a) Monaco (Ligue 1, Matchday 7, September 26)

WON 4-1 (h) Nice (Coupe de la Ligue, 1/16 final, September 23)

Lyon

LOST 4-1 (a) Nice (Ligue 1, Matchday 10, October 24)

WON 2-1 (a) Liverpool (Champions League, Matchday 3, October 20)

LOST 2-0 (h) Sochaux (Ligue 1, Matchday 9, October 17)

WON 2-0 (a) Racing Club de Lens (Ligue 1, Matchday 8, October 3)

WON 4-0 (a) Debrecen (Champions League, Matchday 2, September 29)

TEAM NEWS

Saint-Etienne

Les Verts have been badly hampered by injuries in recent weeks and Saturday’s derby clash promises to be no different. A long list of problems confronts Alain Perrin, who will once again be without the likes of Mouhamadou Dabo, Moustapha Bayal Sall, Sylvain Monsoreau and Boubacar Sanogo.

Defender and captain Loic Perrin, who has struggled for over a year with injury, has been sent to Bayern Munich’s medical team in order to better assess his problems.

There is some positive news. Augusto was confirmed as fit on Thursday evening and Yohan Andreu is also in contention.

Probable Starting XI: Janot; Andreu, Benalouane, N’Daw, Varrault; Augusto, Matuidi, Fernandes, Payet; Bergessio, Ilan

Lyon

Claude Puel tends to like to mix his squad about somewhat prior to Champions League clashes, and with Olympique de Marseille up next Sunday, he may elect to experiment a little again.

Hugo Lloris and Kim Kallstrom are both fit after missing last weekend’s trip to the south coast.

Left-back Aly Cissokho is something of a doubt and may not be risked ahead of Liverpool in midweek. The central defensive problems continue, with Jean-Alain Boumsong, Nicolas Seguin and Mathieu Bodmer all still ruled out.

Lisandro Lopez and Cesar Delgado did not train on Thursday.

Probable Starting XI: Lloris; Reveillere, Cris, Toulalan, Clerc; Makoun, Gonalons, Kallstrom; Govou, Gomis, Lisandro

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Saint-Etienne

Goalkeepers are an enigmatic species at the best of times, but Sainte stopper Jeremie Janot must be considered extrovert even by their standards. A man who is remembered for wearing a Spiderman strip during a league match (though he took the mask off to play), he is loved by the home support, whom he has played his entire professional career in front of.

“Football is a business and many now prefer money or titles to the love of a club. I really love my club,” he once said.

Moreover, he has a rampant hatred of Lyon and once considered sporting a Milan strip in goal after the Rossoneri had eliminated les Gones from the Champions League. He’s utterly bonkers, but certainly achieves his aim of entertaining the crowd.

Olympique Lyonnais

Not a player favoured for European competition, Bafetimbi Gomis will almost certainly be unleashed by les Gones upon his former club. He was not a favourite amongst les Verts’ supporters last season because of his wayward finishing and perceived ego, and he only dropped in their estimations by signing for their greatest rivals in the summer. He has been a relative success leading OL’s line, striking four times already. Indeed, the 24-year-old is the only player on the club’s books to have more than two league goals to his name at this stage.

PREDICTION

It’s too difficult to predict anything other than a Lyon win, though that was also the case last weekend. Saint-Etienne should have enough firepower to at least score, but their defensive frailties make them liable to concede at least a couple at that back. Sadly for the home fans, they will have to wait another season before they can once again hope to grasp a home victory over their greatest rivals.

Saint-Etienne 1-2 Olympique Lyonnais

Robin Bairner, Goal.com

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