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Sunday sees Lille take on Clermont in a Ligue 1 match at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy.
Lille are currently in eighth position in the league table, while Clermont are down in 15th.
Can Lille pick up a win here or will Clermont manage to take another step towards securing their safety in Ligue 1?
Lille vs Clermont Head-to-Head
After a poor start to their campaign made retaining the Ligue 1 title near impossible, Lille’s form has definitely started to pick up in recent months.
Since early November, they’ve suffered just two losses in a run of 14 games, although one was a humiliating 1-5 defeat at the hands of Paris St. Germain.
Most recently, Jocelyn Gourvennec’s side bounced back from a Champions League defeat against Chelsea by defeating Lyon 0-1 in a very solid performance.
Clermont, meanwhile, have found things hard going at times in their first-ever top-flight season. Most notably, they lost five games in a row between October and November.
Since then, though, they have bounced back slightly and have now lost just once in their past five games. They even edged out high-flyers Marseille on February 20.
Clermont’s last game saw them draw with Bordeaux, and they now find themselves six points clear of the drop zone.
The last time these sides faced off, in October, Clermont pulled off an upset of sorts by defeating the reigning champions 1-0 thanks to a goal from Vital N’Simba.
Lille form guide: L-W-D-L-W
Clermont form guide: W-W-L-W-D
Lille vs Clermont Team News
Lille
Striker Burak Yilmaz is a doubt for this one, but outside of him, Lille have a full-strength squad to pick from.
Injured: None
Doubtful: Burak Yilmaz
Suspended: None
Clermont
Clermont currently have no players reported injured or suspended, meaning they also have a full strength squad to choose from.
Injured: None
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Lille vs Clermont Predicted XI
Lille predicted XI (4-4-2): Leo Jardim, Zeki Celik, Jose Fonte, Sven Botman, Tiago Djalo, Jonathan Bamba, Renato Sanches, Xeka, Gabriel Gudmundsson, Jonathan David, Timothy Weah
Clermont predicted XI (4-3-3): Ouparine Djoco, Akim Zedadka, Cedric Hountondji, Florent Ogier, Vital N’Simba, Salis Abdul Samed, Johan Gastien, Jason Berthomier, Lucas Da Cunha, Mohamed Bayo, Elbasan Rashani
Lille vs Clermont Prediction
Clermont have been on a decent run of form of late, making this match trickier to predict than it might initially seem.
However, Lille’s squad is far stronger than the newly-promoted side, and they’ve been in good form themselves. Add in the home advantage for the champions, and this looks like a game they should win.
The prediction is a Lille victory.
Prediction: Lille 2-1 Clermont
