Ligue 1 SRL Round-Up | OGC Nice register win, while the other four teams share points
OGC Nice registered a convincing win over Saint Etienne
|Unfortunately, it was an uneventful weekned in the French Ligue 1, one that few had seen in a while, with just four goals scored in the four matches combined. OGC Nice beat past Saint Etienne in a hotly contested match, with Montpellier and Nantes alongside Dijon-Reims, playing out goalless draws.
Montpellier 0 - 0 Nantes
Montpellier kept the one-point lead over Nantes after a well-contested 0-0 draw between the teams in the Saturday kick-off. The first half was rather boring with both sides coming close to scoring but in the end they both shied away in the penultimate moment. Nantes, was marginally the better side in the opening 45 minutes, which saw no goals.
The restart promised much more and it even did, with the players showing urgency in their game, but it was a game where the net just refused to ripple. Unlike the first half, Montpellier had the better of the second period, with 7 shots at the goal, but the scores were unhurt till the end. Overall, Nantes accounted for 55 dangerous attacks against the hosts 53.
Dijon 0 - 0Â Reims
Another stalemate, but a more vibrant and exciting encounter than the previous one, even though Reims started the match as favourites. The evenly contested first half was a treat to watch for the neutral, but a goal would have made it perfect, but that never happened. By the time the first half ended, Dijon took eight shots at goal, while Reims managed seven.
Both the sides played rather cautiously in the second half and it reflected in the number of shots they’ve struck. Dijon would be rather pleased with their display, having managed to hold on to a team placed seven spots above them in the league table. The match ended 0-0, which saw 70 dangerous attacks from Dijon compared to Reims 60. The hosts spent 15 seconds per attack on average against Reims 14.
OGC Nice 2 - 0 Saint Etienne
Nice maintained their position at the top half of the table with a convincing win over Saint Etienne by a 2-0 margin. With Etienne on the brink of relegation, they had to produce something spectacular to win the match and hope to move out of the danger zone. They did their best to try and manage that, for the entire first half actually, which ended 0-0 in spite of the efforts.
Nice, however, had their task cut out in the second period and did lead the charge, eventually scoring in the 69th minute of the game. The visitors put up an inspiring fight following the goal, but Nice played were happy to defend and hold on to the lead. It was against the run of play that the hosts secured the insurance in the 90th minute of the game to walk away with full points. That said, Saint Etienne had the better of Nice in terms of dangerous attacks (61 to 59) and also shots at the goal (13 to 12).
Olympique Lyon 2 - 0 Nimes
Odds were heavily stacked against Nimes and they even succumbed to it, getting relegated in the process, while Lyon stayed on course for a Europa League spot. The hosts started on the front foot, but what really surprised was the way Nimes fought back against a team that was supposed to be bigger and better. The fight would be short-lived, however, as the hosts scored in the 34th minute to take the lead. It was too tough of an ask for the away side to equalize before halftime.
The story of the second was more or less the same, but what really made the difference was Lyon’s ability to convert their shots, while the visitors failed to do so. It was in the 75th minute that the hosts doubled the lead and took the game away from Nimes for good. The match ended 2-0, with Lyon taking more shots on goal (16 to 9) and creating more dangerous attacks (59 to 46).Â
