Bordeaux welcome the league leaders to the Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux on Sunday afternoon and, surprisingly, after two rounds of games that is Angers.
The visitors have enjoyed a perfect start to the new season, whilst their hosts will be looking to build some momentum after two mixed results.
Match preview
© Reuters
With a new owner in Gerard Lopez and new coach in Vladimir Petkovic, there were high hopes for Bordeaux's 2021-22 season, but things have not got off to the best start.
They were given what could have been considered a very winnable fixture to ease themselves into their new campaign, at home to newly promoted Clermont Foot 63, but came away from it with a 2-0 defeat.
That was followed by a tougher game away at Marseille. Things looked to be going from bad to worse as Les Girondins found themselves two down by half time, but they fought back impressively in an eventful second half, with goals from Timothee Pembele and Remi Oudin earning a point.
That should, at least, fire up the players in what was fast looking like becoming another season of misery for the Bordeaux fans.
The big changes at the top were considered necessary as the south-west side transformed from top-half regulars - even having won the league in 2008-09 - to finishing either 14th or 12th in their three most recent campaigns.
A first win of the season could see them back up into the top half, but they will need to get past a very in-form opponent to do so.
© Reuters
Angers also had a change of manager for the new season, with Gerald Baticle replacing Stephane Moulin in the Stade Raymond Kopa dugout for his first senior management role, after a decade as assistant at Lyon.
Things could not have started much better for Baticle, with his team boasting a 100% record after a 2-0 success over Strasbourg on the opening day was followed up by another victory last weekend.
It will have been a satisfying one too as Les Scoistes dismantled Baticle's old side Lyon - goals from Sofiane Boufal and Azzedine Ounahi, along with a Marcelo own goal, securing a comfortable 3-0 win.
Angers have established themselves as a dependable mid-table team since their promotion to Ligue 1 in 2015, but if they can keep this level of performance up, this could be the season they push on and establish themselves as something more than that.
- L
- D
- W
- W
- D
- D
- L
- D
- W
- W
- W
- L
- W
- L
- W
- W
Team News
Samuel Kalu collapsed on his own four minutes into the game against Marseille - the winger was attended to by medics before briefly returning to the pitch but will now undergo further assessment.
He joins Paul Baysse in the Bordeaux recovery room, with the defender a long-term absence after an ACL injury, and Josh Maja also remains a doubt.
Farid El Melali looks set to miss out for Angers again through injury, but Enzo Ebosse was fit enough to return to the bench for the second game of the season and could now make an appearance.
Stephane Bahoken has put himself in contention for a start with two good performances off the bench, but Baticle may choose against making any changes to what has been such a winning formula thus far.
Bordeaux possible starting lineup:
Costil; Mangas, Mexer, Koscielny; Kwateng, Sissokho, Otavio, Basic, Mensah; Oudin, Hwang
Angers possible starting lineup:
Bernardoni; Manceau, Traore, Thomas; Cabot, Mangani, Mendy, Doumbia, Boufal; Cho, Fulgini
We say: Bordeaux 1-1 Angers
Results have been mixed in recent meetings between the two teams - with two wins each and one draw - and we can see Angers retaining an unbeaten start to the season but potentially not having quite enough to keep their 100% record.
Top tip
James Mackenzie
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Angers win with a probability of 36.71%. A win for Bordeaux had a probability of 33.79% and a draw had a probability of 29.5%.
The most likely scoreline for an Angers win was 0-1 with a probability of 12.83%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (7.43%) and 0-2 (7.09%). The likeliest Bordeaux win was 1-0 (12.16%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.44%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with a 13.4% likelihood.
