5 Tips for Saturday’s Ligue 1 Action - 21/5/22

In the first of our tips, champions PSG host lowly Metz at the Parc des Princes in what is a game of some importance for the visitors.

PSG have already been confirmed champions of the division for a record-equalling 10th time after their 1-1 draw against Lens at the backend of April, which meant that they equalled Saint-Etienne’s haul of 10.

With the title all sewn up PSG do not have much to play for here, but the division’s top goal-scorer Kylian Mbappe (25 goals) will be looking to score in this game to pull away from 2nd-place Wissam Ben Yedder (24 goals) and claim the 4th Ligue 1 top-scorer award of his career.

For Metz, they currently sit in 18th on 31 points and are condemned to a bottom-three finish for this season, but they can still avoid automatic relegation. A win against PSG on Saturday will confirm their spot in the relegation/promotion playoff to face either Auxerre or Sochaux.

Metz will come into the match with hope though, as although a defeat is likely against PSG, their goal difference is a lot better than 19th-placed Saint-Etienne, so a defeat by a large margin would not be too troubling. As long as Metz try to concede as little as possible and Saint-Etienne don’t thrash ninth-place Nantes, they will avoid automatic relegation and thus are left with a chance of top-flight survival.

Despite all this, Metz will be fearful going into the game due to their horrid record against the champions – they have lost 12 and drawn once in their last 13 matches against PSG, with Les Grenats last picking up a win against PSG 16 years ago, when a late Szabolcs Huszti goal helped them to a 1-0 win back in 2006.

However, we do not expect a shock result for Metz here – we expect them to be thrashed by the champions. Kylian Mbappe will be looking to end the season with the top scorer award so will be hungry for goals here, and Lionel Messi will be desperate to finish off a rather poor season with a memorable performance, so expect him to be among the goals in this one.

Our next tip involves two teams from the top half of the table, with 10th-place Lille hosting Rennes in what is an important game for the visitors.

The hosts can finish no higher than ninth this season, so are not really playing for anything here. But for Rennes, a win in this game is crucial for their hopes of European football next season.

Rennes are currently fourth on 65 points and if they were to finish in that position, then they would be playing Europa League football next season. However, they are only 3 points behind the team in front of them, Marseille. And with Rennes having a much better goal difference than Marseille, a win for them in this fixture coupled with a Marseille defeat to Strasbourg would mean that Rennes could sneak into third place and as a result, they would be entered into the Champions League’s final qualifying round.

With the need for goals for Rennes to achieve their target, we expect there to be plenty in this match, especially because both sides possess some of the league’s top scorers. Rennes’ Martin Terrier has bagged 21 goals this season, and Gaetan Laborde, who joined the club in September from Montpellier, has scored 15. And midfielder Benjamin Bourigeaud has contributed 10 goals as well.

For Lille, their top scorer in the league is Canadian attacker Jonathan David, who has managed an impressive haul of 15 this season. Both sides will be looking to their attacking players to get them a result in this one, with Rennes especially desperate for a win here.

But in the last five meetings between these two sides, it is Lille who have come out on top with three wins and two draws, and we expect them to continue their impressive record against Rennes on Saturday.

It is a clash between two sides in the bottom half of the table in our third tip, with 15th-place Troyes travelling to 17th-place Lorient in what is a dead rubber match.

The hosts have just about managed to survive in the top flight this season, currently sitting outside the relegation places with 35 points to their name. The visitors are in a similar position, sitting two places ahead in 15th with 37 points.

Despite poor seasons from both sides, with neither of them picking up more than 10 wins this season, their top-flight status is safe and so this game means nothing, but it is difficult to separate the two sides due to how close they are in terms of form and results over the season.

Both have suffered 18 defeats in the league this season, with Troyes picking up just one more win than their opponent. Troyes have managed to score 36 goals this season compared to Lorient’s 34, and Lorient have conceded 10 more goals than Troyes. And both sides have two players each in their squads who have scored five league goals this season, with midfielder Xavier Chavalerin and striker Ike Ugbo doing it for Troyes, whilst striker Ibrahima Kone and winger Armand Lauriente doing it for the hosts.

Only one player across both squads has more than five league goals this season, with Lorient’s Nigerian striker Terem Moffi bagging eight this season. It is difficult to tell who could get a win here due to both teams being so similar, so that is why we are backing this match to end in a draw.

Saturday’s clash between Lens and Monaco is a crucial one for both sides’ European football hopes. The hosts are currently in seventh place with 61 points, and a win on Saturday along with defeats for sixth-place Nice and fifth-place Strasbourg would see them jump up to fifth place and secure a spot in the Europa Conference League play-off round.

For Philippe Clement’s side, they will be looking to finish second and secure qualification for the group stages of the Champions League. Monaco are on 68 points as are third-place Marseille, so just a win for them here will ensure that Monaco will be in Europe’s top competition next season.

Wissam Ben Yedder has had a stunning season for Monaco, scoring 24 goals in 36 outings to help his side into the top 2 of the division. And we back him to score in this one and add to his season tally, especially with his performance in the Coupe de France match between these two sides in January in mind.

Monaco ran out 4-2 winners, with Ben Yedder’s two goals helping Monaco progress to the next round. Another incentive for Ben Yedder to score is that the race for the Ligue 1 top-scorer award is between just him and Mbappe, with just 1 goal separating the two at the moment.

After previously sharing the award with Mbappe after they both finished on 18 goals for the 2019-20 season, Ben Yedder will be hoping to score goals in this match to help him to the top-scorer award outright for the first time. So for that reason, we are backing Monaco’s main man to score in this match.

In the last of our tips for this weekend, Strasbourg will make the long journey down to the south of France to take on Champions League-chasing Marseille.

The hosts are currently third in the table on 68 points and are guaranteed Europa League football at least, but a win in this match and a poor result for second-place Monaco will mean that Les Olympiens leapfrog them and so will be playing Champions League football next season.

But they face a tough test in Julien Stephan’s impressive Strasbourg team, who are currently fifth and are currently on course to at least secure a place in the play-off round for next season’s Europa Conference League.

But a win for them here combined with a poor result from Rennes would mean that Strasbourg would jump up to fourth place and with that, qualification for the Europa League group stages.

So Saturday’s clash is an important one for both teams due to the implications a win would have for either club, and so the match will likely be full of goals.

For the visitors, they have had three players who have bagged 10 or more goals, with Kevin Gameiro and Habib Diallo both bagging 11 and Ludovic Ajorque scoring 12.

Dimitri Payet has once again been Marseille’s star player this season, bagging 12 league goals. And he has been aptly supported by other members of the squad, with Cengiz Under scoring nine, and Arkadiusz Milik, Bamba Dieng and Gerson all finding the back of the net seven times. So with both sides possessing goal-scoring players, this game should be full of goals.