Angers vs Lens Preview & Prediction | 2024-25 French Ligue 1
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Angers didn’t spend too long away from Ligue 1 and following their automatic promotion from Ligue 2 last season, they now start off against a Lens side under the management of Will Still.
KICK-OFF DATE/TIME: Sunday 18th August, 2024 - UK – 4:00pm / US ET – 11:00am / US PT – 8:00am
HOW TO WATCH ON TV: UK – TBC / US – TBC
HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: UK – TBC / US – TBC
ANGERS PREVIEW: FINDING A FORMULA
Alongside Auxerre and Saint-Etienne, Angers returned to the top-flight with automatic promotion from Ligue 2 last season but they did so as champions of the second-tier. Alexandre Dujeux, in his first full-time managerial role, enjoyed a lot of success in his first season in charge of the club and Angers have managed to retain his services at the start of this season.
They have, though, lost a few key players over the summer. Yan Valery has moved to Sheffield Wednesday, whilst Marin Jakolis has signed for Australian A League side Macarthur. In terms of incomings, Angers attacked the free agent market early with the arrivals of Carlens Arcus, Jean-Eudes Aholou and Jim Allevinah.
LENS PREVIEW: WILL WILL STILL STILL BE A SUCCESS
Will Still became quite famous, especially on social media, when the English-Belgian coach led Stade de Reims to safety in the 2022/23 campaign with a remarkable run of form and his story of playing Football Manager to get experience has certainly not gone unnoticed. After Reims spent big last summer but underperformed, he has something to prove this season.
He was open about the fact he would be open to leaving Reims for an ambitious Championship club and that went down badly so to get the Lens job after leaving the club towards the end of last season would seem a bit incongruous, given the success that Lens have had in recent seasons, notably finishing as runners’ up in the aforementioned 2022/23 season.
ANGERS TEAM NEWS: IRRITATING INJURIES
Angers are dealing with a few injuries on the opening day of the season and there will be a frustration that their new signing, Jim Allevinah, is already absent after picking up an injury in pre-season.
As well as Allevinah, there are a few other issues with fellow forward Zinedine Ferhat also unavailable alongside central midfielders Emmanuel Biumla and Joseph Lopy, who missed the end of last season, too.
PREDICTED XI (4-2-3-1): Fofana; Arcus, Hountondji, Courcoul, Lefort; Aholou, Belkhdim; Cherif, Abdelli, Niane; Diony
UNAVAILABLE: Biumla (Injured), Lopy (Injured), Ferhat (Injured), Allevinah (Injured)
QUESTIONABLE:
LENS TEAM NEWS: NEW LOOK LENS
Franck Haise almost exclusively played a back three at Lens for the last couple of seasons and Will Still, albeit more flexible, often played the same system at Reims so whilst it may be a new look Lens in some aspects, the system may well remain the same.
They do have one injury issue with Neil El Aynaoui, who is sidelined for the opening day, but they will be able to bring in new signings such as Jimmy Chavez, Malang Sarr and star striker signing Mbala N’Zola.
PREDICTED XI (3-4-2-1): Samba; Gradit, Sarr, Danso; Frankowski, Fulgini, Samed, Deiver Machado; Thomasson, Sotoca; Nzola
UNAVAILABLE: El Aynaoui (Injured)
QUESTIONABLE:
ANGERS VS LENS PREDICTION
Following promotion, Angers may well be looking to simply be quite defensive and pragmatic throughout this campaign and that could lead to quite a few low-scoring encounters involving them. Lens, on the other hand, were quite proactive under Franck Haise and Will Still will be expected to implement a similar style of football for this season. A double chance bet in favour of the away team appears good value.
ANGERS VS LENS TIP: DOUBLE CHANCE – LENS TO WIN OR DRAW
