Nimes- Laval

We last discussed Nimes two weeks ago ahead of their home match with Sedan..... Hosts are on fire at the moment, unbeaten in six and scoring freely, they have won four from five including on the road at them league leading Nantes and the draw came away to new leader Monaco, that is pretty much as good as it gets. Their last five home starts have averaged 3.4 goals and they have a very good h2h record in this fixture, winning the last three h2h meetings here in Nimes.

They won 3-0 against Clermont last week missing left-back Salaheddine Sbai (11-0-0) and striker Seydou Kone (16-5-1) , both return this evening, to give give an inform, free scoring team increased options. Midfielder Komlan Amewou (18-0-0) is away at the ACN and defensive midfielder Jonathan Parpeix (14-0-1) is injured, neither has played this month.

They raced into a 2-0 lead that day and won 2-1 perhaps a little more comfortably than the scoreline suggests, they then went to Caen, conceded very early and took a while to get going, but they once again played some delightful one touch football after the break, they are a pleasure to watch and really should have got something from the game, having one goal disallowed and missing a clear one on one opportunity. With 34 points in the bag and no relegation concerns and sitting just six off the promotion places, there is absolutely no need for the hosts to play cautiously in any match and that is clearly not in their nature in any case. Left back Salaheddine Sbaï (11-0-0) is out again, he has played just once in the last seven weeks, but they are a little weaker on that flank without him IMO and Laval who like to get the ball out wide might well be able to exploit that this evening. Komlan Amewou has not returned from the ACN in time to make the squad, but holding midfielder Jonathan Parpeix (14-0-1) returns, after missing the last two months.

Laval have dropped into the bottom three after losing by the odd goal in nine (!) at home to Auxerre last week, I have seen them play three times and they have ability going forward and only Auxerre outside of the top eight have scored more , but leave themselves terribly exposed at the back. They remain without striker Jerome Lebouc (10-2-1), but there are no new injuries and they are otherwise at full strength. The visitors would probably snatch your hand off for a point, but it is difficult to see this being a tight cagey affair and Nimes have too much quality going forward  not to put Laval under intense pressure, one goal will again blow this open , I expect both to score and when the dust has settled, probably another home win, but I just about prefer the "over" option. 1.75 units "over" 2.25 goals 2.02 asian line/ Ibramarket.

Nîmes : Merville, Al-Shaïbani, Bénézet, Boche, Bouby, Gragnic, Haddou, Hsissane, Koné, Fanchone, Nouri, Ogounbiyi, Poulain, Robail, Parpeix, Ripart.

Laval: Arnaud Balijon, Mike Vanhamel,  Gaëtan Belaud, Kévin Perrot, Pierre Talmont, Simon Falette, Miodrag Stosic, Makan Traoré,  Oscar Ewolo, Anthony Gonçalves, Ludovic Gamboa, Bilal Hamdi, Jordan Adéoti,  Fabrice Do Marcolino, Ghislain Gimbert, Julien Viale.