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

Lille can maintain their third-place standing in Ligue 1 with a victory on Saturday at Stade Pierre-Mauroy against relegation-threatened Nice.

A 4-0 hammering at Toulouse vaulted Les Dogues above Marseille in the table, while Nice are 15th following a 1-1 draw versus Le Havre.

Match preview

Just like we saw at the start of the campaign, Lille have shown how potent they can be in front of goal in recent times.

Bruno Genesio’s men scored a combined 13 goals in their first four league fixtures this season and have netted a total of 11 in their last four such contests.

Recently, Lille have been equally sharp defensively, posting consecutive clean sheets in this competition while allowing a goal or fewer in every domestic game since February.

A win on Saturday would be the fifth in a row for them, their longest run of victories in the top-flight since winning the league in 2020-21 (six).

They are unbeaten in their last four domestic games at home, but have dropped points in two of those previous three outings across all competitions.

Les Nordistes boast a 100% record at home against Ligue 1 sides currently in the bottom four, defeating Nantes 1-0 in early March.

Although they remain above the relegation zone for now, Nice are cutting it awfully close as we head into the home stretch of the campaign.

The southern French side have won just one of their last 10 Ligue 1 affairs, putting them a mere four points above Auxerre in the relegation playoffs.

Claude Puel’s men are guaranteed to finish the top-flight season with fewer than 50 points this tie around, the first time they have done so since the 2019-20 campaign (43).

Away from home, this team have gone on to win two of their previous three matches across all competitions, though only one came in normal time (2-0 at Angers).

Nine times in 2025-26, this team have given up multiple goals in an away league game, while conceding three or more on five occasions.

Le Gym have points in three of their previous four visits to Stade Pierre-Mauroy, however their last away triumph against them came in 2022 (2-1).

Lille Ligue 1 form:

Lille form (all competitions):

Nice Ligue 1 form:

Nice form (all competitions):

Team News

An elbow issue will likely keep Marc-Aurele Caillard sidelined for Lille, Osame Sahraoui has a groin strain, Hamza Igamane and Oursmane Toure are out with cruciate ligament injuries, while Nathan Ngoy will be suspended.

Thomas Meunier, Romain Perraud, Matias Fernandez-Pardo and Olivier Giroud all scored in their lopsided triumph last Sunday.

At Nice, Dante is recovering from a sore calf, Moise Bombito has a lower leg fracture, Everton Pereira is questionable with an ankle strain, Charles Vanhoutte has a knock, while Hicham Bouadaoui and Morgan Sanson are out through suspension.

Ali Abdi’s 59th-minute strike on matchday 29 enabled his side to earn a point in Normandy, the second of the Ligue 1 campaign for the Tunisian defender.

Lille possible starting lineup:

Ozer; Meunier, Alexsandro, Mandi, Perraud; Bentaleb, Andre; Mukau, Haraldsson, Correia; Fernandez-Pardo

Nice possible starting lineup:

Diouf; Mendy, Oppong, Bard; Clauss, Louchet, Coulibaly, Abdi; Wahi, Diop; Cho

We say: Lille 2-0 Nice

Lille have been a streaky team in the goalscoring department, but at the moment they are finding depth and consistency in that area, and we believe they will keep that going against a defensively unstable side like Nice.

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