Preview:Lyon vs Angers - prediction, team news, lineups

Fresh off suffering their first defeat of the new Ligue 1 campaign, Lyon return to Groupama Stadium on Friday for a date with Angers to begin matchday five.

A 3-1 loss at Rennes dropped Les Gones down to fourth in the table, four points above Angers, who are 12th after settling for a 1-1 draw away to Metz.

Match preview

For over 70 minutes of their Sunday fixture, it looked as though Lyon were headed for another narrow victory, but a sending off was ultimately too much for them to overcome.

Paulo Fonseca’s men conceded three times inside the final 11 minutes of that match after being reduced to 10 men, including two in stoppage time as they suffered their first domestic defeat since May (2-0 at Monaco).

Seven of their last eight Ligue 1 matches at Groupama Stadium ended in a victory for them, while they have yet to concede a single goal at home in the competition this season.

While they let a half-time lead slip away on matchday four, OL have not lost a league fixture at home when ahead after 45 minutes since May 2021 against Nice (2-1).

They have not given up an opening half goal in any of their previous six matches in this competition, dating back to the 2024-25 season.

OL are on a five-match winning run versus Angers, defeating them on six consecutive occasions in Lyon, with at least a point in eight successive home outings against them.

Last weekend was another game with few chances for Les Scoistes, but they found a way to earn a point, a common theme for them early into this season.

Alexandre Dujeux has seen his side go behind in three successive league contests, managing to come back and earn a result in those last two outings.

In 2025, this team have never lost a match in this competition when scoring an opening half goal, though that has only happened once in the new campaign, when they defeated Paris FC 1-0.

Angers are winless in their previous three Ligue 1 away matches, failing to find the back of the net on two of those occasions dating back to the end of last season.

This side netted the second-fewest goals in the French top-flight a season ago (32), and little has changed early into the new campaign, as they are currently tied with Metz and Auxerre for the fewest goals scored (three).

Three of their previous four Ligue 1 away defeats were by a single goal, including a 1-0 loss at Paris Saint-Germain on matchday two.

Lyon Ligue 1 form:

Angers Ligue 1 form:

Team News

In their defeat to Rennes, Lyon were without Ernest Nuamah, who is recovering from a cruciate ligament tear, Orel Mangala sat out with a knee injury and Tyler Morton will miss this match following a straight red card 15 minutes before the 90.

Corentin Tolisso scored his team-leading second goal of the season last week, only for OL to give it up in the latter stages, with the winner coming courtesy of an own-goal by goalkeeper Remy Descamps and the latter suffered a knock in that match and could miss up to a month as a result.

On the Angers side, we saw one new face in their starting 11 the last time out as Florent Hanin replaced Jacques Ekomie at the left-back position to begin that game.

Himad Abdelli returned from a back injury last weekend, replacing Louis Mouton with fewer than 20 minutes remaining and eventually scoring the equaliser from the spot after Herve Koffi had stopped a Metz penalty earlier in the half.

Lyon possible starting lineup:

Greif; Maitland-Niles, Mata, Niakhate, Abner; Tessmann; Karabec, Tolisso, Sulc, Fofana; Merah

Angers possible starting lineup:

Koffi; Arcus, Camara, Lefort, Ekomie; Belkhdim, Abdelli; Raolisoa, Mouton, Cherif; Peter

We say: Lyon 1-0 Angers

Even if Lyon commit their share of errors, we believe they will escape as Angers seem more focused on keeping it close than attacking, a strategy we think will eventually backfire on Friday.

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