Clermont will begin 2023 in search of their first-ever victory over Lyon in Ligue 1 when they head to Groupama Stadium to face them on Sunday.
OL ended 2022 with a 4-2 victory over Brest, while Clermont dropped their second successive league fixture, 2-0 at home to Lille.
Match preview
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Heading into the New Year, Laurent Blanc should be feeling a little better about his team's performances, as they did well to answer an equaliser from Brest in the opening half on Wednesday, putting the match out of reach in the final 45 minutes.
They are unbeaten in their last three home fixtures domestically, conceding a goal or fewer in every one of their league matches played at Groupama Stadium this season.
Their four-goal tally versus Brest was the most they had scored away from home in 2022-23, while Les Gones have netted multiple times on four occasions in Lyon, failing to find the back of the net just once.
All of their victories on the current campaign have occurred when Olympique Lyonnais have scored first, notching a first-half strike in six of their eight home fixtures in the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes.
While they are tied for fourth in Ligue 1 scoring this season, notching 27 so far, more than half of them have come from two players.
Lyon conceded three goals to Clermont in this exact fixture last season, squandering a 3-1 lead in the final 10 minutes plus stoppage time, ultimately settling for a 3-3 draw.
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Another poor second half on Wednesday proved to be the undoing of Clermont, as five of their last six goals allowed domestically have come in the final 45 minutes, including two versus Les Dogues earlier this week.
Currently winless in their last six league encounters, Pascal Gastien's men have failed to score in a domestic fixture since defeating Auxerre 2-1 in early October.
Nine of their 13 points collected so far over this campaign have come away from home, while all but one of their road fixtures in 2022-23 have been decided by a goal or fewer.
They have picked up five points from losing positions this season, with four of those points coming as the visiting team.
Despite their recent struggles, they have put themselves in a decent position to remain in the top flight for another campaign, currently nine points above the relegation line.
CF63 have 19 points after 16 domestic encounters, which is five more than they managed at this stage of the previous top-flight campaign.
Team News
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The leading scorer for Lyon this season, Alexandre Lacazette, has scored from the penalty spot in his last two league matches.
His strike from 12-yards away versus Brest put him even with former Ligue 1 striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic for the second-most in the French top flight since 2010, a feat that has only been bested by Monaco's Wissam Ben Yedder (30).
The other OL goals this week were scored by Tete, his fifth of the campaign, while Maxence Caqueret and Rayan Cherki found the back of the net for the first time this season and Moussa Dembele has three goals in two league fixtures versus Clermont.
Jerome Boateng and Henrique remain sidelined due to knee issues, Houssem Aouar has a muscle strain and Malo Gusto is likely to miss another game because of a thigh injury.
Elbasan Rashani had a brace for Clermont in their last visit to Groupama Stadium, and they were also aided by an own goal from Sinaly Diomande, while Mory Diaw only managed one save versus Lille this week, though he has 57 this season, the third-most among Ligue 1 keepers.
We saw two new faces to the Clermont starting 11 on Wednesday from the side that began their previous league fixture versus Lens as Jim Allevinah and Neto Borges replaced Jeremie Bela and Komnen Andric.
Mehdi Zeffane is expected to miss a few more weeks with a calf injury, while Maximiliano Caufriez will not be available on Sunday, after receiving a pair of cautions in each half of their last match.
Lyon possible starting lineup:
Lopes; Tagliafico, Lukeba, Diomande, Kumbedi; Caqueret, Faivre; Toko Ekambi, Dembele, Tete; Lacazette
Clermont possible starting lineup:
Diaw; Seidu, Wieteska, Cisse; Khaoui, Gastien, Magnin, Neto Borges; Allevinah, Rashani; Kyei
We say: Lyon 3-1 Clermont
Lyon still look a little suspect at times defending, but given the form of Lacazette and the kind of creativity they can call upon in the midfield, we expect they will have enough to power past Clermont on New Year's Day.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Joel Lefevre
