Strasbourg vs Lyon

Perennial Ligue 1 strugglers Olympique Lyon head to the Stade de la Meinau to meet Strasbourg in a must-win 2022/23 opener.

Strasbourg survived a gut-wrenching 2022/23 Ligue 1 season, avoiding relegation by a mere five points despite going winless in three straight league games down the final stretch (D2, L1). Desperate to produce a more inspiring campaign this year, ‘Le Racing’ have appointed ex-Crystal Palace boss Patrick Vieira as the new chief of staff. Except for a 2-1 defeat to Besiktas, Vieira enjoyed an otherwise morale-boosting pre-season with Strasbourg, going unbeaten in all six remaining friendlies (W3, D3). While Strasbourg’s matches last season often failed to deliver entertainment, six of their seven pre-season fixtures under Vieira featured over 2.5 goals and both teams on the scoresheet. Connoisseurs of action-packed football have every reason to anticipate another high-scoring event, considering three of Strasbourg’s last four top-flight meetings with Lyon have followed the abovementioned pattern.

On the other hand, last season’s abysmal 7th-place finish ruled Lyon out of European competition for the fourth year running, putting pressure on underperforming manager Laurent Blanc to deliver from the start. However, ‘Les Gones’ couldn’t find their feet in pre-season, losing four consecutive friendlies ‘to nil’ after a 2-1 win over sub-par De Treffers in their opening warm-up outing. Lyon can find some comfort in winning four of their final six Ligue 1 games at the tail-end of last season (L2), especially considering all those victories saw them score multiple goals. On top of that, the visitors haven’t lost any of their five most recent league visits to Strasbourg (W3, D2), averaging two goals per match.