Lille – Bordeaux

Lille plays at home against Bordeaus, Sunday 17 April, in the 35th round of the French Ligue 1.

Lille is on the 3rd place and has a 4 point advantage in front of St Etienne with also one game in hand. The 3rd place is the last one that sends to Champions League, so it’s a massive stake for Lille and a win here would basically guarantee they will get it, so motivation is high for the hosts. Lille is in very good form as they lost their first points in 4 rounds last weekend, drawing 0-0 with Marseille. Lille has allowed zero goals in the last 5 home games and has not lost at Stade Pierre-Mauroy since early January. Team news for Lille are excellent – the hosts can field their best lineup, Basa is the only doubtful player but will probably play.

Lille lineup: Enyeama – Beria, Kjaer, Basa, Souare – Balmont, Mavuba, Delaplace – Martin – Origi, Kalou

Bet with the best odds and highest limits at Pinnacle.

Bordeaux is on the 7th place and also has something to play for as they can mathematically still catch the final Europa League spot, but it looks very unlikely they will be able to pull it off and surely they know their chances are close to zero. The visitors have won 5-1 vs. Guingamp last round after 5 consecutive draws. Bordeaux is a very hard team to beat but does not have the sharpness in front of goal to grind out wins and this can also be seen in their dismal road record: 2 wins, 9 draws, 5 losses. Bordeaux has a single win when traveling since 18 december: 2-1 vs. an amateur team in the French Cup. Team news for Bordeaux say that Hoarau is out of the game and there are also a bunch of questionable players: N’Guemo, Carrasso, Olimpa and Saivet.

Bordeaux lineup: Carrasso – Mariano, Henrique, Sane, Orban – Rolan, Traore, Sertic, Maurice-Belay – Jussie, Diabate

Bordeaux did not lose in 6 games but they did not play to well either and they faced very poor opposition (best opponent: Nantes, 10 place). I don’t think they can grind out another draw at such a strong and in-form team like Lille, especially with the home record the hosts have and the away record that Bordeaux has. I want to bet Lille to win to nil here at very tasty odds but I don’t want to ruin a good bet in case Bordeaux somehow bags a goal and it ends up something like 2-1 … so my tip will be simple, Lille to win, still at very good odds at Bet365. Correct score prediction: Lille – Bordeaux 2-0.

Pick: Lille
Odds: 1.80 @ Bet365
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 6.4
Event date: 27 April