Strasbourg preview

• Les Racing have almost become an ‘all or nothing’ side winning 2 but losing 4 of their last 6 games, They have conceded a surprising number of goals since the start of October, shipping 12 goals during this period.
• Le Stade Meinau can be an intimidating place but a couple of recent defeats here might have dented their confidence and also lowered morale of some fans.
• Midfield duo of Anthony Goncalves & Sacko are both injured and ruled out here. Strasbourg are otherwise in pretty good health with no other casualties. Centre back Felipe Saad has been missing for a few weeks but there’s no guarantee he’d be a starter now.

Laval preview

• New coach Marco Simeone got off to the perfect start last week, shocking Reims on the road and beating them 2-0. This ended Reim’s 100% home record.
• Under Simone Laval are expected to be extremely resilient and negative. They will park the bus in most fixtures and make themselves very difficult to break down.
• Striker Alassane N’Diaye looked sharp last week and Laval can occasionally break dangerously. They welcome back midfield playmaker Mathieu Coutadeur from injury tonight and this will aid their cause creatively.
• Les Tangos have now won their last two road games at difficult locations so will be quietly confident of pulling off another upset.

Conclusion & betting analysis

• On the back of two straight defeats, a match facing Laval is probably the last thing Strasbourg wanted. They are likely to be frustrated all night by a really stout defensive outfit who would be quite happy to leave with a 0-0 draw.
• Strasbourg will dominate possession, shots, chances and pretty much every offensive statistic. But it might take something special, or a moment from a set piece to actually break down Laval.
• The hosts are odds-on around the 1.95 mark and are unbackable. On paper, Strasbourg of course have the better team, but there are way too many doubts surrounding them here.
• I’m expecting a low scoring game containing few chances. I even considered under 2 goals in this instance but I’m never a fan of betting tight under lines because it only takes a couple of freak moments and you might lose your bet.
• Even if Strasbourg scored early, Laval are unlikely to deviate from their gameplan until late so I think a 0-0 or a 1-0 win either way is probably the most likely outcome.

Prediction: 0-0

Recommended bet: None