On Friday, of course, the betting options are somewhat limited compared to the past few days. This time we have analyzed the opening match of the twelfth round of the French Ligue 1, in which Montpellier and Nice will face off. The start of the match between these two teams is scheduled for 9 PM.
Montpellier: Can this team aim higher than mid-table?
Montpellier was founded way back in 1919, and interestingly, this team won its first and so far only title in 2012. As many of you surely know, that team was led by Olivier Giroud, who finished the championship as the top scorer with 21 goals. He had significant support from Belhanda, who was ultimately named Ligue 1’s Best Young Player of that season. It’s also worth mentioning that the coach of that Montpellier team was the legendary René Girard.
Apart from that championship title eleven years ago, it’s notable that the club has won the French Cup twice, the League Cup once, and in terms of European trophies, they won the Intertoto Cup in 1999.
In recent years, Montpellier has faced quite a few problems, and the team hasn’t achieved significant results. This was also the case last season, when the team from “La Mosson” finished only in twelfth place in the league. This means that they were nowhere near competing for a spot in any European competitions, which was certainly a primary goal last season and undoubtedly will be this season too.
After eleven matches in the top tier of French football, Michel Der Zakarian’s side is currently in thirteenth place in the table, just one point ahead of sixteenth-placed Metz. It’s well known that this position at the end of the season means a relegation play-off match against the third-placed team from the second tier of French football.
So far, the former French champions have played ten league matches, achieving three wins, the same number of draws, but also four losses.
In their last five matches, Montpellier has a record of two wins, two losses, and one draw, which was a goalless game at home against Rennes.
In the previous round, Michel Der Zakarian’s pupils suffered an expected defeat away at the current champions PSG, with the match at Parc des Princes ending in a 3:0 victory for the Parisians.
Regarding their home performances, Montpellier has played four matches at “La Mosson” so far, securing just one win, two draws, and suffering one defeat, which was a 1:3 loss to Reims.
Nice: Dazzling Performances at the Start of the Season!
Unlike Montpellier, which has only won the French championship title once, Nice, in its 119-year history, has won the French league title four times, with the last time being way back in 1959. Additionally, the club from the French Riviera has won the French Cup three times, the last of which was in 1994 when they triumphed over Guingamp in the final after a penalty shootout.
Unfortunately, last season the team had to settle for ninth place in the league, which did not meet the expectations of the club’s management, as the primary goal was to qualify for European competition. It’s worth remembering that the previous season, the Riviera club represented France in the third-tier European club competition, reaching the quarterfinals, where Nice was eliminated by Swiss side Basel after extra time, which was, frankly, a big surprise.
Over the summer, Francesco Farioli took over as the coach of this French team, and it seems that this was the right move. Currently, the team from the French Riviera is at the top of the Ligue 1 table, with a one-point lead over second-placed PSG, a position few could have predicted at the start of the season. There’s no doubt that the new coach, who graduated from the University of Florence with a thesis titled “Philosophy of the Game: Aesthetics of Football and the Role of the Goalkeeper,” has played a significant role in this achievement.
So far, the league leaders have played eleven matches in France’s top flight, securing seven wins, four draws, and no losses. Interestingly, the team has conceded only four goals in the league, managing to keep a clean sheet in eight of those matches, a noteworthy statistic.
In their last match, Farioli’s men played another excellent game, this time at home against Rennes, where the league leaders comfortably won 2-0. Regarding away performances, Nice has played five away matches, achieving four wins and a single draw, with the team from the French Riviera stringing together four consecutive away victories.
Our Betting Suggestions
In their last two head-to-head matches, Nice managed to defeat Montpellier, and notably, these encounters produced a large number of goals, totaling twelve. It seems likely that tonight’s match at “La Mosson” will also be a high-scoring affair, which is why we strongly recommend playing the over 2.5 goals market, for which the betting company Mozzartbet offers odds of 2.00.
As we’ve already mentioned in our analysis, Nice has been delivering exceptionally strong performances this season, and the team from the French Riviera is the best away team in Ligue 1, having achieved four wins and just one draw in five away matches, including a draw at Lorient. It seems that Francesco Farioli’s men could triumphantly return from this visit as well, so we boldly recommend betting on an away win (2), which Mozzartbet offers at odds of 2.25.
Finally, perhaps the most realistic forecast is that the visitors from the French Riviera will score at least two goals in this match, for which we recommend trying the team 2 over 1.5 goals market with odds of 2.30 at Mozzartbet.
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