Sports

Ligue 1 predictions: Round 16

Scores

Raphaël: 67

Luke: 65

Game of the week: OGC Nice v RC Lens, Thursday 20:00 (UK)

Raphaël: Kicking off an unprecedented festive bonanza of French football, it’s Angers who face a trip to Corsica amid turmoil at every level of the club – Moroccan World Cup heroes Azzedine Ounahi and Sofiane Boufale are set to leave, manager Gérald Baticle was bizarrely sacked on the eve of the restart a month after being suspended, and the team sit rock bottom in the league. A perfect opportunity for Ajaccio to get back to winning ways. PSG can call on Kylian Mbappé – a man ostensibly on a mission after the World Cup final – as well as Neymar as they face Strasbourg, although neither are expected to play the full 90, potentially making this a tighter affair. Lyon will look to put a poor international break behind them, but a trip to Brittany could prove a tough proposition. A seemingly resurgent Dimitri Payet will hope to lead Marseille back up the table with a third win in a row, while second-place Lens should have enough in the tank to avenge Nice poaching their sporting director Florent Ghisolfi earlier this season.

Luke: There is no such thing as form as Ligue 1 returns on Wednesday. After a six-week absence, it is difficult to know in what state the individuals will return to club football. Will there be any lingering mental wounds for some of the French contingent such as Kylian Mbappé, who – miraculously – only featured for Paris Saint-Germain just 10 days after that World Cup final defeat?

Whoever lined up for PSG, Christophe Galtier’s side should have too much for Strasbourg, who have had to revise their European ambitions and concentrate on merely staying in the division. Perhaps the break will allow Julien Stéphan’s men to arrest their slide.

Nice and Lens is the game of the weekend, and the most difficult to call. Lens were brilliant for the entirety of the campaign pre-World Cup break, whilst Lucien Favre’s Nice showed signs of revival in October and early November. Neither side lost many players to the World Cup, and those that did depart returned early. Favre may just benefit from some extended time with his squad and spring a surprise at the Allianz Riviera.

Lorient were the other surprise package at the start of the Ligue 1 season. Régis Le Bris continues to work wonders with Les Merlus, but his side did show signs of dropping off. They are welcomed back with a tricky tie against Montpellier.

Raphaël’s full predictions:

Ajaccio 1-0 Angers

Troyes 2-2 Nantes

Auxerre 1-2 Monaco

Clermont 0-2 Lille

PSG 2-1 Strasbourg

Brest 1-1 Lyon

Lorient 2-1 Montpellier

Reims 1-4 Rennes

Marseille 2-0 Toulouse

Nice 0-2 Lens

Luke’s full predictions: