Olympique Lyonnais remain under the most intense of scrutiny as they welcome unbeaten Lille to the Stade Gerland on Sunday night. Lying 17th in the league, les Gones have made a disastrous start to the campaign and anything short of three points will simply heap pressure upon the side prior to a Champions League clash against Benfica.
The international break should have been a chance for Lyon coach Claude Puel to rest up and take things easy, but the pressure is so intense on the coach’s shoulders that OL fans held a demonstration at one of the club’s youth matches, urging the former Lille boss to resign.
Prior to the off-week, OL had actually got themselves back on track to some extent, defeating Hapoel Tel Aviv in the Champions League away from home before getting the better of Nancy, also on the road. The manner of the two victories, particularly the latter, was wholly unconvincing and certainly not befitting a side who recently won seven league titles in success.
With local rivals Saint-Etienne revelling in their position near the summit of the table, the masses in Lyon have quickly grown restless. President Jean-Michel Aulas remains unmoving, insisting that he will only pass decisive judgement on Puel’s performance after the Arles-Avignon clash on October 24.
The tight nature of Le Championnat means that OL’s title prospects will not be completely shot even if they lose at the weekend, but defeat would surely be the final nail hammered into Puel’s coffin, ironically by the club he abandoned to join the Rhone giants.
Unbeaten But Not At Their Best
Lille are one of only two Ligue 1 sides undefeated through eight matches of the season (the other being Stade Rennais) but have found their path rutted as they have picked up draws in matches they would have expected to win, claiming only three victories in their formative fixtures.
Coach Rudi Garcia commands one of the most potent arsenals in France, but les Dogues are yet to display this quality this season. LOSC finished ahead of even Olympique de Marseille in the goal scoring charts last term, but they’ve strangely misfired in the early weeks of this season, finding the net a relatively disappointing 11 times, despite keeping the same personnel largely together over the close-season.
Slow starts have been a feature of les Dogues’ recent campaigns, and it’s interesting to note that this is reflected to some extent in individual matches as they’ve only been leading after 45 minutes on three occasions this season. By contrast, they’ve won five of the eight second halves they’ve played.
With wingers such as Eden Hazard and Gervinho, who was this week placed under a one year suspended prison sentence after knocking down a motorcyclist, they should pose a threat to any Ligue 1 opponents, particularly as the midfield remains one of the best in France, even if it is not quite reaching its top gear at present.
On each of Lille’s last three visits to Lyon, they’ve earned a point, and if they were to fall short of that on Sunday then they would be disappointed.
TEAM NEWS
Lyon
OL will sweat over the fitness of tenacious midfielder Jeremy Toulalan, who didn’t train on Thursday due to a metatarsal injury. Cesar Delgado is making progress following his early season injury problems but won’t feature, while long-term issue Ederson is still missing.
Lille
Tulio de Melo is the only player who will miss out for les Dogues. Mickael Landreau and Florent Balmont have both overcome hamstring issues that hindered them over the international break, while Franck Beria and Ludovic Obraniak are both back in the reckoning too.
Lyon
OL will sweat over the fitness of tenacious midfielder Jeremy Toulalan, who didn’t train on Thursday due to a metatarsal injury. Cesar Delgado is making progress following his early season injury problems but won’t feature, while long-term issue Ederson is still missing.
Lille
Tulio de Melo is the only player who will miss out for les Dogues. Mickael Landreau and Florent Balmont have both overcome hamstring issues that hindered them over the international break, while Franck Beria and Ludovic Obraniak are both back in the reckoning too.
Prediction
Lyon don’t have a happy recent history against Lille, and given their recent form that’s unlikely to change a great deal. LOSC remain one of the most dangerous forces in France, but unless they can find top gear a victory is unlikely. The points have been split each time the teams have met at Stade Gerland since 2006, and it would be little surprise if that statistic was to remain untroubled come full-time.
O. Lyon 1-1 Lille 
