Lyon – Lens

Olympique Lyon vs. Racing Club Lens in the French Cup Round 16. Single legged tie played at Stade Gerland.

How quickly things turn around in football. A couple of months ago Lyon couldn`t buy a win, losing game after game and was set for a nightmare season. But now, Lyon could make this year one for the ages – they are in brilliant form with a single defeat in the last 15 games, they are 6th in the league, they`re in the Coupe De Ligue final, Coupe de France last 16 and Europa League knockout stage – quite impressive given their abysmal start to the season.

If we exclude the 2-0 defeat at Rennes 10 days ago, Lyon won 8 consecutive games in all competition – and have scored at least 2 goals in each of those games. The form of the hosts is simply brilliant and confidence is at an all time high. Lyon without Lopez and Dabo for this game but there is a big chance that Lyon will field the best available first 11 for this game … or at least with no more than 2-3 minor changes.

Olympique Lyon lineup: Lopes – Zeffane, Kone, Umtiti, Bedimo – Gonalons, Fofana – Grenier, Gourcuff, Lacazette – Gomis

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Lens for sure is not a bad team and the Ligue 2 side has good chances to play first tier football next season after a good campaign so far. Lens is on 3rd place but has recently suffered a dip in form … just 1 point in the last two matches and they did not score a single goal. In the weekend they lost 1-0 to Troyes. Lens is also not such a good road team with statistics of 4 wins, 4 draws and 4 losses away from home in Ligue 2. Tisserand, Kantari and Lemoigne are unavailable to play for Lens in this match.

Racing Club Lens: Areola – Gbamin, Landre, Yahia, Ball – Salli, Cyprien, Valdivia, Nomenjanahary – Chavarria, Touzghar

Lens is a tough opponent but with the current form and confidence of Lyon, the hosts should avoid any unpleasant surprises. Lyon has a number of advantages including quality, home court advantage and the fact that Lens looked bad in the last two games. Also, Lyon is motivated to do well in the competition and will not rest players. I also like the extraordinary goalscoring power Lyon showed lately … so they should be able to break the visiting teams` defensive setup – Lens is a defensive team and if they concede 1 or 2 goals it will be hard for them to recover. I don`t see too many arguments for Lens to spring a surprise. My tip is Lyon to win this with more than 1 goal, so I will choose the -1 asian handicap – also for a safety net in case of a 1 goal win. Lyon covered the handicap in 5 of their last 8 wins. For me big stakes, because this Lyon team looks unbeatable right now, especially at home. Correct score prediction: Lyon – Lens 2-0.

Pick: Olympique Lyon (-1 Asian Handicap)
Odds: 1.85 @ Sbobet
Stake: 9
Possible profit: 7.65
Event date: 13 February