Precarious Nantes to battle at Angers
Top half side Angers play host to Raymond Domenech’s Nantes on Sunday, a win could take them to within a point of the European places. The Black and Whites have been very impressive in this their fourth season in the topflight, to which they have not flirted with relegation in any before and are now in with a great chance of achieving their first top half finish. Nantes are on a real barren run, winless in their last 15 league outings and despite putting up some better underlying performance data than their league position suggests, they are dropping like a lead balloon, a win here could see them remain inside the bottom three.
Process
Even though they sit in 11th there is not a lot of encouragement to take from Angers expected goals figures, I was originally looking for an anti Nantes play but the data tells me that there is no value in backing Angers at just above evens. They have overperformed to score 29 from 25.8 expected goals, ranking 14th for their attacking process, alternatively getting unlucky to let in 37 from 29.5 expected goals against. That puts them in ninth place for expected goals against, a clean sheet could be around the corner if they continue to be so stern.
The Yellow House have scored just 22 goals from chances equating to 26.6 expected and let in 39 from 35.7. A significant underperformance, their attacking and defensive output should pick up if they can maintain that performance level, it is going to be a long battle against the drop if Nantes are to survive, but they are still in a position where a good run of results could see them looking back up the table.
Goals?
The goal line is very small, the bookies not expecting more than two goals in that match, but with the variance of football I find it tough to see any value in such a narrow selection.
- Angers have scored in five of 10.
- Angers have conceded in nine of 10.
- Angers have seen both teams score in five of 10.
- Angers have seen over 2.5 goals in six of 10.
- Nantes have scored in six of 10.
- Nantes have conceded in nine of 10.
- Nantes have seen both teams score in six of 10.
- Nantes have seen over 2.5 goals in three of 10.
Angers host Rennes on Thursday with Nantes welcoming Lens on Wednesday, it will be interesting to see how they get on leading towards this encounter.
Post bet chat Marcus's Tips:
Having parted company with Raymond Domenech between the time of publishing and the match itself, Nantes stopped the rot, sadly conceding a penalty along the way. 3-1 Nantes.