Troyes got back to winning ways last Tuesday. They won that 4-1 with Ghislain Gimbert (see above) scoring twice, I have been spot on with these strikers to follow in recent weeks and having broken his duck for the season, it is very hard not to see him being productive over the next few weeks and mirroring his form of last season, but and there is always a but, he has been left out tonight by coach Jean-Marc Furlan who marches to the beat of his own drum and is not your archetypal Ligue 2 boss. He has opted to go with Henri Bienvenu and five goal Corentin Jean upfront. Jean picks himself and it is clear Bienvenu and Gimbert will battle to lead the line and that they want to persevere with the former as long as possible, as they "broke the bank" to bring him in (even free transfers cost money) and he was wanted by several of the top Turkish clubs, having been prolific and having gained Champions League experience at Young Boys, Fenerbahce and Eskisehirspor, averaging a goal or assist every 119 minutes throughout his career. On the day his signing was announced, Furlan said "With this signature, we send a message to our audience: we want to be the strongest, the best. "We want to continually advance the club ." However, Bienvenu will know now that he is competing with Gimbert and that can only be good for the visitors. Rincon returns to central defence replacing Florian Jarjat and this is a strong squad , full of goals, 19 in their last 9 competitive away starts, which included a 3-0 win here in Clermont at the end of last season.
Troyes will go top of Ligue 2 with a point, but all three would give them a healthy five point advantage over Nancy who are currently in fourth and given their normal style of play, it is impossible to see them coming here looking for anything other than a maximum return.
The visitors are 2-2-0 in Monday night road games, which all came against "big name" teams ( Nantes twice, Sochaux and Brest), Clermont are regulars in the televised fixture, but have only won one of the last 12, losing 7 of 9. Last of which was a 2-1 defeat at Valenciennes seven days ago.
They were two down there, but again scored very late, striker Idriss Saadi scored his sixth goal of the season and that is a wonderful return for a struggling team who have only managed five other goals and the scorer of two of those, Souleymane Sawadogo is missing this evening. They get Bockhorni back tonight, but still look short in terms of the backline and heavily reliant on Saadi, who will be watched like a hawk, upfront. He actually has 12 goals in 18 starts across the end of last and this season, but came up short in the aforementioned heavy home defeat to Troyes and the visitors will be confident they can again stop the supply to the 22yo, who must have a host of scouts watching his every move.
A win will take Clermont out of the bottom three and with a daunting trip to Dijon on Friday their only other start for 19 days, they will surely give everything to collect the win and that, I feel, will play into the hands of Troyes, who would be happy to go toe to toe and end to end, with any Ligue 2 team .
1.5 units Troyes -0.25 ball 2.20 asian line/Sportmarket.
Clermont : L'Hostis, Jeannin,Agounon, Avinel, Bockhorni, Martin, Lippini,Betsch, Capelle, Diogo, Ekobo, Hamdi, Moulin, Novillo, Salibur, Vidémont,Saadi.
Troyes: Denis Petric - Franck Grandel - Rincon - Matthieu Saunier - Lionel Carole - Guillaume Lacour - Quentin Othon - Jessy Pi - Thomas Ayasse - Benjamin Nivet - Yoann Court - Stéphane Darbion - Karim Azamoum - Khassa Camara - Henri Bienvenu - Corentin Jean.
Key stat: Troyes have led at the break in all three road wins this season and in their last five away victories in all comps.
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Troyes will go top of Ligue 2 with a point, but all three would give them a healthy five point advantage over Nancy who are currently in fourth and given their normal style of play, it is impossible to see them coming here looking for anything other than a maximum return.
The visitors are 2-2-0 in Monday night road games, which all came against "big name" teams ( Nantes twice, Sochaux and Brest), Clermont are regulars in the televised fixture, but have only won one of the last 12, losing 7 of 9. Last of which was a 2-1 defeat at Valenciennes seven days ago.
They were two down there, but again scored very late, striker Idriss Saadi scored his sixth goal of the season and that is a wonderful return for a struggling team who have only managed five other goals and the scorer of two of those, Souleymane Sawadogo is missing this evening. They get Bockhorni back tonight, but still look short in terms of the backline and heavily reliant on Saadi, who will be watched like a hawk, upfront. He actually has 12 goals in 18 starts across the end of last and this season, but came up short in the aforementioned heavy home defeat to Troyes and the visitors will be confident they can again stop the supply to the 22yo, who must have a host of scouts watching his every move.
A win will take Clermont out of the bottom three and with a daunting trip to Dijon on Friday their only other start for 19 days, they will surely give everything to collect the win and that, I feel, will play into the hands of Troyes, who would be happy to go toe to toe and end to end, with any Ligue 2 team .
1.5 units Troyes -0.25 ball 2.20 asian line/Sportmarket.
Clermont : L'Hostis, Jeannin,Agounon, Avinel, Bockhorni, Martin, Lippini,Betsch, Capelle, Diogo, Ekobo, Hamdi, Moulin, Novillo, Salibur, Vidémont,Saadi.
Troyes: Denis Petric - Franck Grandel - Rincon - Matthieu Saunier - Lionel Carole - Guillaume Lacour - Quentin Othon - Jessy Pi - Thomas Ayasse - Benjamin Nivet - Yoann Court - Stéphane Darbion - Karim Azamoum - Khassa Camara - Henri Bienvenu - Corentin Jean.
Key stat: Troyes have led at the break in all three road wins this season and in their last five away victories in all comps.
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