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Mixed martial arts Ligue 1 Best Bets: Value Picks for Four Matches from France this Weekend
Ligue 1 Best Bets: 21st-23rd April
It has been a campaign to forget for Angers, a team that has focused heavily in Ligue 1 Best Bets this season. Selfishly, let’s hope that misery continues on Friday night and sets up a positive jaunt into the weekend’s schedule.
In this article:
- Angers vs PSG Preview & Best Bet
- Lorient vs Toulouse Preview & Best Bet
- OGC Nice vs Clermont Preview & Best Bet
- Montpellier vs Stade Rennais Preview & Best Bet
Angers vs PSG Preview
Friday, April 21st, 20:00 (UK)
Week after week, maximum points on the board will fend off Marseille in 2nd just a touch longer until we get to a stage where the available games left to resurrect a late title push fade into the ether.
After two weekends of shock results to Lyon and Rennes, the response to dispatch both OGC Nice and RC Lens had diverted PSG back on course with aplomb. However, the supporter base remains displeased with the season, with a minimum expectation of a straightforward Ligue 1 lift to come.
Well, if they want straightforward, going off this season as a whole, Angers present the perfect opposition. There has been a fightback in recent weeks from the top flight’s poorest side – a semi-spike in results borne from the group not wanting to lay down and finish with the lowest-ever points haul in Ligue 1.
Angers vs PSG Best Bet
Regardless, they may not have much say here. Kylian Mbappé shots were included in last week’s best bets in France, so we know precisely where his performance levels stand in terms of finishing off the season. If PSG are on it, this could be a cricket score given the hapless nature of Angers defence week after week at this level.
A bet builder handing Angers a -1 head start plus the likelihood of the home side struggling in forward areas seems sensible here. After all, Angers haven’t scored two goals in a single game since mid-October: that’s a 23-game stretch.
- Selection: PSG -1 & Win to Nil
- Best Odds: 2.37 (bet365)
- Stakes: 5/10
Lorient vs Toulouse Preview
Saturday, April 22nd, 14:00 (UK)
Toulouse’s impending cup final date with Nantes grows ever closer. The showpiece event will be played on the 29th of April, scheduled just after their trip to Lorient.
We’ve seen Toulouse performances take a wobble since they began navigating the latter stages of the Coupe de France, and who can blame them? With the prospect of relegation nine points away with seven games left, I think they need another win to settle any nerves. Thankfully for them, the bottom sides don’t have the quality to piece a winning run together.
Other than starting berths in the cup final, it could be argued that there’s not much to play for here. The selection leans on the hope that seeps out into Toulouse’s performance, whilst still recognising their goalscoring prowess in 2023.
Lorient vs Toulouse Best Bet
This calendar year, Toulouse have scored 2+ goals in 13/20 matches. They have the players to more than contribute alongside a Lorient team admittedly finding goals to come by in recent weeks.
Assuming the shackles are slightly off the two teams here and Toulouse’s left eye is on the cup final, it could be an exciting game to watch.
- Selection: Lorient or Draw Double Chance & O2.5 Goals
- Best Odds: 2.60 (bet365)
- Stakes: 2/10
OGC Nice vs Clermont Preview
Saturday, April 22nd, 14:00 (UK)
After a losing 120 minutes on Thursday night in Europe, it’s a big ask for any team to dust themselves off for domestic competition and hit a required performance level.
That’s the task for OGC Nice, who fell to Kasim Adams’ 98th-minute winner in FC Basel colours in the quarter-final of the UEFA Conference League. If we take away the two legs against Sheriff, the Moldovan outfit expected not to cause many issues to Nice, then that’s now eight games without a win.
The last Ligue 1 victory came in Monaco at the end of February. A lot of football has passed since then, and now Nice is closer to Clermont Foot in 11th (two points) than to Lille in the final European place (ten points).
I’m not going to attempt to build a picture of Clermont that displays a gritty, tough-to-beat Ligue 1 side with a copious amount of quality up top because they’re not that. Yet, they’ve won their last three successive games – all against relegation fodder in Angers, Troyes, and AC Ajaccio – and come into Sunday’s game riding a subtle wave of confidence. Let’s call it a four-foot wave rather than an imposing eleven-foot wave, but a wave nonetheless.
OGC Nice vs Clermont Best Bet
With European football increasingly out of reach as the weeks pass, plus poor form and the extra time endured on Thursday night, I’m taking Clermont +0.5 at plus money. So avoid defeat and enjoy all the winnings – it seems a fair trade to me, although a little risky.
- Selection: Clermont +0.5 Asian Handicap
- Best Odds: 2.05 (bet365)
- Stakes: 3/10
More OGC Nice vs Clermont Tips
Montpellier vs Stade Rennais Preview
Sunday, April 23rd, 16:05 (UK)
The eyes instantaneously converge on the goals markets when seeing this specific match-up. A Montpellier team performing well under new-ish management fills the home dressing, whilst a Rennes outfit gunning for European spot decks out the other.
A 3-0 whitewash favouring Rennes earlier in the season best tells the tale of the most recent head-to-head, whilst 2-4, 2-0, 2-1, 2-1, and 5-0 scores proves this is a fixture that lends itself to the net rustling more often than not.
So, getting our hands on a 2.25 match Asian Handicap at 1.73 catches the eye, as does 1.75 for both teams to score. After recent success in Ligue 1 Best Bets, though, I will be a little bolder and hang my hat on the BTTS and over 2.5 goals price quoted at 2.20.
Although it’s a decent indication of what comes to fruition when two sides meet, the head-to-head record isn’t something to be solely swayed by. For me, it’s Montpellier’s capacity to register on the scoresheet under Michel Der Zakarian, which piques my interest as Rennes comes to town.
Nine games have passed now since the second coming of Zakarian in Montpellier, a stretch that has seen his team score in every fixture. Considering they’ve played the likes of RC Lens, Marseille, and Lille, that’s good going.
Montpellier vs Stade Rennais Best Bet
For Rennes, a failure to keep pace with Lille in fifth will rule them out of the final European place in Ligue 1. With seven games left and two points to make up, coupled with Lille having to play three of France’s best on the run-in, it’s arguably in Rennes’ hands.
They’ll fancy themselves after the 3-0 victory over Reims last weekend, and I think that’ll threaten to rear its head in the final result in Montpellier on Sunday.
- Selection: BTTS & O2.5 Goals
- Best Odds: 2.20 (bet365)
- Stakes: 8/10
More Montpellier vs Stade Rennais Tips
Odds via bet365 as at 09:00 on 21st April 2023. Odds may now differ.
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