Preview: Lyon vs Le Havre - prediction, team news, lineups

Lyon can win their first two Ligue 1 outings for a second successive campaign on Saturday when they battle Le Havre at Groupama Stadium.

In their season opener last weekend, Les Gones walked away with a comfortable 2-0 win at Toulouse, while Le Havre were blanked 1-0 by Monaco in Normandy.

Match preview

Once again Olympique Lyonnais have begun a top flight season well, scoring on their only two targeted efforts against Toulouse.

This weekend they can stretch their Ligue 1 winning run in August to six games, with their last domestic defeat this month coming at home to Monaco in 2024 (2-0).

Meanwhile, they can also extend their run of Ligue 1 clean sheets this month to four matches, failing to concede a single goal in August of last season.

At the same time, they have given up a combined eight goals in their last three Ligue 1 outings at Groupama Stadium and lost their last competitive game there this week, 2-1 at Fenerbahce, relegating them into the Europa League.

Paulo Fonseca’s men have won three of their last four home encounters in this competition, but were beaten handily in their last league outing in Lyon a season ago versus Lens (4-0).

Les Gones have never lost a home meeting with Le Havre this century, collecting maximum points in four of those five outings.

It always seems to be within their reach, yet Le Havre struggle to find that decisive edge when needed in this competition.

Of the seven Ligue 1 defeats suffered by Didier Digard’s men this year, five were by a single goal as his team failed to make any of their five targeted efforts last Sunday count.

This Saturday, Le Havre are in danger of losing their first two matches in this competition for a second successive campaign, conceding a total of five times in their opening two outings last season.

They will enter this contest seeking to extend their top flight unbeaten run away from home to five matches, winning their final matchday as the visitors in 2025-26, 2-0 at Lorient.

That is their only Ligue 1 away triumph of the competition so far this year, while this team have dropped six points when scoring first on the road in 2026.

Le Club Doyen have failed to find the back of the net in three of their last four top flight meetings versus Lyon, but on Saturday they could earn points in consecutive games against them for the second time in the 2000s.

Lyon Ligue 1 form:

Lyon form (all competitions):

Le Havre Ligue 1 form:

Team News

On Saturday, Lyon might be missing Khalis Merah, who sat out of their match against Toulouse due to a knock, while Pavel Sulc came on as a substitute having previously dealt with injury problems himself.

Noah Nartey and Malick Fofana netted second-half strikes to give them three points last week, while Remy Decamps made two stops for the clean sheet in place of Dominik Greif, who started in their Champions League playoff this week.

Due to a knock, Le Havre could be without Felix Mambimbi, while Yanis Zouaoui should be in the lineup once again after previously injuring his thigh.

Vincent Sasso started his first Ligue 1 fixture for them on matchday one at centre-back, following the departure of Gautier Lloris to Brest during the summer transfer window.

Lyon possible starting lineup:

Decamps; Athekame, Mata, Bacher, Kluivert; Tessmann, De Carvalho; Tolisso, Nartey, Nuamah; Sulc

Le Havre possible starting lineup:

Mpasi; Pembele, Sasso, Seko, Zouaoui; Ebonog, Mwanga, Richardson; Doucoure, Samatta, Ndiaye