Lyon take on the visitors Lens in the quarterfinal match of Coupe de France. The match will be played on Thursday, March 5th at Parc Olympique Lyonnais (Lyon).
Lyon went through a difficult period last season. Yes, Paulo Fonseca managed to stabilize the situation, even though he was unable to appear at stadiums during matches due to a suspension for confronting a referee. In the end, they only edged out Strasbourg on tiebreakers to finish 6th. Over the past few months, however, their overall performances have looked more convincing, especially in home fixtures where they tend to dictate the tempo. Even when not dominating, they have shown the ability to grind out results and stay competitive against direct rivals. In the summer, there were attempts first to expel the project from the top division due to financial issues, and then to move them into the Conference League. Nevertheless, they managed to defend their right to play in the more prestigious Europa League — and there they finished as the best team in the main round. On the domestic stage, there were setbacks, including a five-match winless run across all competitions, but from mid-December they were winning consistently in both the cup and the league. Still, in the most recent matches there were slip-ups — first a 2–3 defeat to Strasbourg, and then the same negative scoreline against Marseille, who had just changed their head coach.
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Lens are once again surprising with their success. The Blood and Gold struggled for a long time just to escape the second division. Then suddenly they became runners-up in the country! However, an expected decline followed, and last spring they finished only 8th. Recently, they had been riding a wave of confidence, picking up points steadily and showing resilience even in tough away encounters. Their defensive solidity and disciplined approach allowed them to compete with teams from the very top of the table. Who could have imagined that in the new cycle they would make such sharp progress that even at the end of winter they were competing on equal terms with PSG, the reigning Champions League winners? However, in the latest rounds there have been clear signs of a downturn: first they lost to inconsistent Monaco, and then they were held to a draw by Strasbourg. Despite this struggle, they are still progressing in the cup, although they have faced rather modest opponents there so far.
The Blood and Gold collected 10 points out of a possible 12 in four matches. But in August they lost at home to Les Gones. Here, the advantage is given to Olympique, clearly due to the home factor. However, it certainly will not be a dull encounter — we expect the match to end with over 2.5 goals scored.
Prediction for the match: Over 2.5 scored goals.
