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As they head into the 2024/25 campaign under new management following the departure of Will Still, Stade de Reims start up against a Lille side that have also swapped management from Paulo Fonseca to Bruno Genesio.
KICK-OFF DATE/TIME: Saturday 17th August, 2024 - UK – 6:00pm / US ET – 1:00pm / US PT – 10:00am
HOW TO WATCH ON TV: UK – TBC / US – TBC
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REIMS PREVIEW: REIMS LOOKING TO REBUILD
Last summer, Stade de Reims were one of the biggest spending clubs in the summer transfer window and they did spend the majority of last season in the top-half pushing for European qualification. However, they eventually came unstuck and parted company with manager Will Still, who has since joined Lens.
Reims have, in contrast to last season, been extremely quiet in the market with only Cedric Kipre arriving on a free transfer from West Bromwich Albion. They have lost Yunis Abdelhamid to Saint-Etienne as well as Amir Richardson to Fiorentina and right-back Thomas Foket has signed for Anderlecht.
LILLE PREVIEW: LILLE LOOKING TO RE-ESTABLISH THEMSELVES
For much of last season, Lille were one of the best teams to watch in France despite keeping over 25 clean sheets across all competitions under the management of Paulo Fonseca. They did miss out on UEFA Champions League qualification to Stade Brest on the final day of the season.
Paulo Fonseca has since decided to leave the northerners and he has been replaced by former Stade Rennais and Olympique Lyonnais coach Bruno Genesio. Lille have made some intriguing and recognisable additions this summer with the arrivals of Thomas Meunier and Aissa Mandi but the threat of Jonathan David departing still looms large.
REIMS TEAM NEWS: FINDING A FORMULA
Reims appeared to have stumbled upon an effective style of football under Still last season with a 3-4-3 and a slick, counter-attacking style of football with the likes of Keito Nakamura and Reda Khadra.
Their new manager, Luka Elsner who led Le Havre to safety last season, prefers a back four with it likely to either be a 4-1-4-1 or a 4-3-3 system deployed by the hosts this season.
PREDICTED XI (4-1-4-1): Diouf; Okumu, Busi, Agbadou, Sergio Akieme; Atangana; Ito, Munetsi, Teuma, Ito; Daramy
UNAVAILABLE:
QUESTIONABLE:
LILLE TEAM NEWS: BEST WISHES TO BENTALEB
The dominant story of the summer in Lille has been the health of Nabil Bentaleb. The former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder suffered a cardiac arrest last month and his future in the game is of course in doubt.
Bruno Genesio, nicknamed ‘Pep Genesio’ due to his desire to play a sophisticated style, is not too dissimilar from Paulo Fonseca tactically so it shouldn’t be a major shift for the visitors.
PREDICTED XI (4-2-3-1): Chevalier; Meunier, Mandi, Alexsandro, Diakite; Andre, Gomes; Haraldsson, Cabella, Zhegrova; David
UNAVAILABLE: Bentaleb (Illness)
QUESTIONABLE:
REIMS VS LILLE PREDICTION
Luka Elsner managed to steer Le Havre clear of the drop last season and the Slovenian coach does intend to play a progressive style of football anywhere he goes and Reims do appear set up well with an abundance of pace in attack. Lille will play a slower but still generally proactive and attacking style of football so we could well have a bit of an opening day thriller here in which both teams scoring seems a good value bet.
REIMS VS LILLE TIP: BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE