Lille will look to recover from a sluggish start to the season when they travel to the Stade Oceane to face Le Havre in Ligue 1 on Saturday.

With a dream fixture at home to Real Madrid on the horizon next week, Bruno Genesio will desperately want to see his side end their current winless run here.

Match preview

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In what was one of the best weeks of European football for French clubs in a long time two weeks ago, Lille were the only Champions League representative from Ligue 1 not to win on matchday one.

A 2-0 defeat in Portugal to Sporting Lisbon was not the start the Lille faithful envisaged on their return to Europe's top-tier competition, and they also responded by dropping more points in the league last weekend.

In a topsy-turvy encounter with Strasbourg, Lille led 2-0 early on, but needed a late Jonathan David penalty just to salvage a draw in a 3-3 thriller.

That result arrested a recent losing streak, but they are still five without a win and only just inside the Ligue 1 top half with seven points.

This is Les Dogues' worst winless run since 2018, when they went 11 without victory, and a failure to pick up three points here could see that run drag on for quite a while when you consider who Lille will face on Wednesday.

European champions Real Madrid will be the side making the trip to the Stade Pierre-Mauroy in the Champions League next week, and no club will fancy their chances against Los Blancos if they go into the fixture on a six-game winless streak, placing huge importance on this encounter.

Despite a 3-1 defeat at Monaco last week, Didier Digard's Le Havre will have taken great heart from a spirited performance against one of Ligue 1's strongest clubs.

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Monaco had just beaten Barcelona a few days earlier, but Le Havre were very unfortunate to leave the principality empty handed, after having a goal disallowed by VAR in the second half that would have put them 2-1 up.

In what has been a challenging start to the season fixture-wise, Le Havre have done well to amass as many points as they have so far.

Digard's side will now face another two of last season's top four in their next two games, having already played Monaco and Paris Saint-Germain, so having two wins on the board has been very valuable at this stage, but that is still only enough to place them in 12th ahead of the weekend's action, level on points with Strasbourg and Brest.

No club has lost as many games as Le Havre since February though, as a poor end to last season means they have suffered defeat in 13 of their last 19 Ligue 1 games - only Wolverhampton Wanderers have lost more in that time in Europe's top-five leagues.

Lille are certainly a bogey team for Le Havre too, having lost the last five meetings ahead of this encounter, and this could be the first time since 1951 that the hosts lose six in a row against Les Dogues.

In the previous four meetings at Stade Oceane, Le Havre have failed to even score a goal, and doing so again would see them fire a blank against the same opponents in five straight home games for the first time in their history.

Team News

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Le Havre did little to strengthen their squad over the summer, signing mainly youth prospects who are yet to feature in the first team.

Yanis Zouaoui impressed on his debut in the win at St Etienne late last month, but has not played a minute since, with Christopher Operi preferred at left wing-back.

Andy Logbo, who has missed the entirety of 2024 with a serious knee injury, and Etienne Youte Kinkoue are the only absentees for the hosts ahead of this one.

Nabil Bentaleb could make a comeback from illness for Lille here, but he is unlikely to break into the similarly named midfield trio of Benjamin Andre, Andre Gomes and Angel Gomes.

Edon Zhegrova remains the bright light during a difficult spell for Lille, as he got the two early goals against Strasbourg last week, after also netting in the recent defeat to PSG and both legs of their Champions League playoff versus Slavia Prague.

Samuel Umtiti and Ismaily are set to remain out at the back with respective knee issues, and Icelandic midfielder Hakon Arnar Haraldsson is currently nursing a foot injury.

Le Havre possible starting lineup:
Desmas; Sangante, Salmier, Lloris; Nego, Toure, Kuzyaev, Kechta, Targhalline, Operi; Casimir

Lille possible starting lineup:
Chevalier; Meunier, Alexsandro, Diakite, Bakker; Ang Gomes, Andre, Andre Gomes; Zhegrova, David, Bayo

We say: Le Havre 1-2 Lille

Only two of Le Havre's 47 previous Ligue 1 home games have ended in draws, and this is likely to be no exception, in what could be a 30th defeat in that time for the hosts.

Lille may be on a five-game winless streak, but Le Havre are favourable opponents for them having won the last five meetings between the two, and they are fancied to make it six here.


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