Sunday 17/08/2014, 17:00, France Ligue 1, Round 2, St Etienne vs Reims
St Etienne vs Reims Preview
Winning games in front of their fans has never been difficult for St Etienne, but their performance on the road is what prevented them from finishing on the podium last season. If they are to rally for the podium, they will need to greatly improve their away record and so far the Saints seem to be on the right track. After a convincing road win at Guingamp, St Etienne will try to win consecutive games and in order to do so, they need to steamroll past Reims.
St Etienne vs Reims Odds
St Etienne 1.55, Draw 3.70, Reims 6.75
St Etienne vs Reims Tips
St Etienne took a leap of faith with a rather strange starting formation, featuring only Erdinc in the offensive one week ago. Having five midfielders, including the offensive ones definitely helps in providing the Turkish striker with useful balls and he made the most of them.
He scored both goals, including a penalty kick in the final minute of overtime, but the visitors created numerous scoring opportunities. Scoring twice in front of their fans should be even easier, given the fact that Reims is not exactly the best defensive team and they struggled in their own half recently.
Much to their credit, Reims managed to stop PSG in its tracks despite the fact that the visitors scored twice and Ibrahimovic missed a penalty. While they had good reason to celebrate that draw, the visitors will need to brace themselves for a 90 minutes siege. Against the reigning champions, they got lucky to have defensive midfielders scoring both goals, but Charbonnier will be there only striker again.
There is a huge difference between the manner in which Reims perform in front of their fans and how they play on the road, something that St Etienne can definitely relate to. The hosts are going to come out firing on all cylinders and if they learned a lesson from what happens to PSG last week, they won't take the foot off gas.
Key Facts
- The visitors have five missing players, including two defenders, as all of them are mending injuries.
- The two teams met six times, with four games ending undecided, but St Etienne is undefeated at home
St Etienne vs Reims Prediction
Those who plan on making this match more exciting, need to take some chances with St Etienne to prevail, because backing them for an outright win is not worth it. Those who trust the hosts to win by at least two goals will enjoy odds of 2.40 Pinnacle Sports, but they need to act fast, because they will definitely drop before kickoff.
Bet: St Etienne -1.5 goals @ 2.40 with Pinnacle Sports
