Saint-Etienne vs Rennes Preview: Team News & Prediction

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Saint-Etienne and Stade Rennais sit third-from-bottom and fourth-from-bottom respectively with 14 games of the 2024/25 Ligue 1 season to go ahead of this clash at the Geoffrey-Guichard.

Kick-off date/time: Saturday 8th February, 2025: UK – 8:05pm / US ET – 3:05pm / US PT – 12:05pm

How to watch on TV: UK – Not televised / US – beIN Sports

How to watch online: UK – Ligue 1 pass / US – beIN Sports

Saint-Etienne Preview: Competitive ASSE

Saint-Etienne, under the management of Eirik Horneland, who replaced Olivier Dall’Oglio over the French winter break, come into this weekend beginning the round of fixtures sitting third-from-bottom and in the Ligue 1 relegation playoff place.

ASSE most recently suffered a 4-1 loss to Lille at last weekend with Zuriko Davitashvili opening the scoring from the penalty spot early on before the game was turned on its head via strikes from Jonathan David and Gabriel Gudmundsson as well as a brace scored by Osame Sahraoui.

Rennes Preview: Rennes need a run

Jorge Sampaoli replaced Julian Stephan during the November international break but the intense and hostile former Argentina boss has struggled to get to grips with his squad but things may turn around after an extremely busy winter transfer window.

Rennes, once again choosing to spend big to give Jorge Sampaoli the squad that he wants, spent on Seko Fofana, Brice Samba, Kyoko Furuhashi, Kazeem Olaigbe, Mousa Al Tamari, Anthony Rouault as well as the loan acquisition of Lilian Brassier.

Saint-Etienne Team News: Batubinsika suspended

New Zealand international attacking midfielder Ben Old has been unavailable throughout the campaign but he is close to working his way back from an ACL injury. They are without defender Dylan Batubinsika for this weekend due to suspension.

Predicted XI (4-3-3): Larsonneur; Appiah, Abdelhamid, Nade, Petrot; Bouchouari, Ekwah, Mouton; Cardona, Stassin, Davitashvili

Unavailable: Batubinsika (Suspended), Bernauer (Injured)

Questionable: Briancon (Injured), Moueffek (Illness), Old (Injured), Wadji (Injured)

Rennes Team News: Fofana a doubt

Aforementioned winter signing Seko Fofana is now an injury doubt for Rennes due to a strain. Alidu Seidu suffered an ACL injury in Jorge Sampaoli’s first game in charge and he remains sidelined, whilst wing-back Hans Hateboer is available despite UEFA suspension.

Predicted XI (3-4-3): Samba; Hateboer, Wooh, Brassier; Assignon, James, Ahamada, Truffert; Blas, Furuhashi, Kalimuendo

Unavailable: Seidu (Injured), Hateboer (Suspended)

Questionable: Fofana (Injured)

Saint-Etienne vs Rennes Prediction

Saint-Etienne have struggled throughout the season. They gained promotion by playing quite a reactive and defensive style of football and, despite the change in management and subsequent slight improvement in their performances, they remain reliant on defensive solidity. They now face a Rennes side that will go to the Geoffrey-Guichard on the back of a desperately much-needed victory with a transformed squad and a double chance bet in favour of the away team would remain the way to go for this one.

Saint-Etienne vs Rennes Tip: Double chance – Rennes to win or draw