Preview: Lens vs Lille - prediction, team news, lineups

Lille can keep pace with Paris Saint-Germain atop the Ligue 1 table Saturday, when they travel to Stade Bollaert-Delelis for a date with Lens on matchday five.

A 2-0 defeat to PSG last weekend dropped Les Sang et Or down to eighth in the table, while Lille are two points below Les Parisiens for first following a 2-1 come-from-behind win over Toulouse.

Match preview

For a second successive encounter, Lens started slowly on matchday three against the reigning champions but were unable to recover on that occasion, unlike on matchday two when they came back to beat Brest 3-1.

The Northern French club had just 31% of the possession last weekend, while their two-match winning run domestically came to an end.

Pierre Sage has lost two of his league games in charge, the first time a Lens coach has suffered that many defeats after four matchdays since Antoine Kombouare also lost two of his first four matches as manager in 2014.

In 2025, this team have lost seven Ligue 1 home fixtures and would equal their highest top-flight total for home defeats in a calendar year with another one on Saturday.

That said, they could match their longest winning run at Stade Bollaert-Delelis domestically from last season (two) should they emerge victorious in this upcoming encounter.

With a victory, they will also equal their points total after five matchdays from the previous Ligue 1 campaign, going unbeaten at that stage of the season under Sage’s predecessor Will Still.

Persistence has paid off for Lille early into the Ligue 1 season, with this team one of two, alongside PSG, that have yet to lose in the French top-flight thus far.

Bruno Genesio’s men have netted a league-high 13 times in four matches, five of which occurred in second-half stoppage time, including two in their comeback victory last week.

The bulk of those goals have come in the final 45 minutes of play (11/13), seven of which occurred with 10 minutes or fewer remaining.

On Saturday, they can start a top-flight season with four wins from their opening five fixtures for the first time since 1952-53, when they lost just one of their first five outings.

They have a chance this weekend to go unbeaten after five Ligue 1 matchdays for the first time since 2020-21 when they captured the title for only the fourth time in club history.

Les Dogues have points in nine consecutive away matches versus Lens in this competition, winning their previous visit to Pas-de-Calais last season 2-0.

Lens Ligue 1 form:

Lille Ligue 1 form:

Team News

An ankle injury kept Jhoanner Chavez out of the Lens lineup last weekend, while Deiver Machado was sidelined once again with a knee issue.

There were three new faces in their starting 11 in Paris, with Samson Baidoo, Morgan Guilavogui and Odsonne Edouard replacing Machado, Wesley Said and Rayan Fofana.

On the Lille side, Ousmane Toure missed their previous match due to a cruciate ligament tear, Marc-Aurele Caillard had an elbow issue, Hakon Arnar Haraldsson sat out with a sore thigh, Thomas Meunier had a groin problem and Alexsandro left the match with what appeared to be a muscle injury.

Nabil Bentaleb scored from the penalty spot to level their previous match, before Ethan Mbappe Lottin netted the winner in his first appearance of the season.

Lens possible starting lineup:

Risser; Gradit, Baidoo, Sarr; Aguilar, Sangare, Thomasson, Udol; Thauvin, Said; Fofana

Lille possible starting lineup:

Ozerl; Mandi, Ngoy, Mbemba, Perraud; Andre, Bentaleb; Fernandez-Pardo, Mukau, Sahraoui; Giroud

We say: Lens 1-2 Lille

Lille offloaded a lot of attacking talent in the summer, but it seems to have enabled them to thrive as a team, with so many players contributing early on.

Lens, on the other hand, have been somewhat unpredictable so far, with this team taking longer than expected to gel as a unit.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.