Ligue 2: Tours- Dijon
 

I was originally very keen on Dijon for this match up. I think that both teams are better suited to playing on the road , which might seem odd given that the visitors are a perfect 5-0-0 at home, but when teams take the game to Dijon, they can play to their strengths and we discussed this ahead of their recent win at Sochaux.....

Right back Abdoulaye Bamba misses out for Dijon tonight, he is pretty much the first defensive name on the team sheet nowadays, but they were 3-2-0 (only conceding twice) in his absence last season and right now, that "handicap" doesn't look enough to stop them . They looked very impressive in beating Le Havre 2-1 on Friday, they trailed at the break, but did not panic and goals always looked likely, infact, were it not for two world class saves from the visiting keeper, they would have doubled their tally and despite their 4-0-0 home record, this is a team who I feel are ideally set up to play on the road and as many of you know ,front man Julio Tavares is a player I am very keen on ( see Tours-Creteil notes) and we tend to see the best of him away from home. DFCO should have gone up last season, but lost they way for a month or so in early spring and came up a frustrating three points short, with one, possibly two inferior teams being promoted. They will want to get the job done this time round and they have not come here looking for a single point, they did the double over Sochaux last season without conceding and it is hard to see the hosts putting them under too much pressure this evening, as they are without a win in 14 league starts and have failed to score in nine of those and have not beaten a top half of the table team since early November ! It was hardly a surprise that they sacked head coach Olivier Echouafni last week, but it was hard to see too much improvement offensively from them on Friday under the interim pair of coaches, the duo might shake things up tonight and have named a big squad of 20 players, but I do not see where, Karl Toko Ekambi (who is the only player to score this season !) aside, the goals are going to come from  and they probably need two to get anything from this, with Dijon scoring 11 in winning their last four and have at least a goal in their last six, two or more in five.
 

Then I saw that Tours were without suspended goalkeeper Bingourou Kamara (pictured), who is ever present in L2 since making his debut in late October last year at the age of just 17. He is obviously a huge talent and replacement Quentin Westberg has not played a L2 match in over 4 years and very little football at all in the last two and I was starting to get a little excited. However, this was tempered by the suspension to Dijon centre back Christopher Jullien who has been a revelation this season, also contributing scoring five goals , so, we have major defensive changes for both, albeit with better options for the away side.
 

Dijon already have a three point lead at the top of the table, so even a point would be great, but all three would see them a whopping nine clear of Clermont in fourth and that is a huge advantage, even at this early stage of the season. I do not really see that they will be looking to ease off, they led L2 early last season (through 13 starts) and spent much of the campaign in the top 3, before finishing 4th and felt like they blew promotion, they have finished 7th-6th-4th in the last three seasons and really need to get the job done this time round and given their recent history, done and dusted asap.They are looking for an eighth straight win in all competitions and my only concern is the loss of Jullien, it is not enough to put me off completely, but I will reduce stakes slightly.
 

1.25 units Dijon -0.5 ball 2.47 asian line/Sportmarket.
 

Tours : Westberg, Cointard - Gradit, Milosevic, Cillard, Miguel, Bouhours, Maouche, Agouazi, Belkebla, Bergougnoux, Malfleury, Bosetti, Miracoli, Santamaria, Kouakou, Louvion.
 

 

Dijon : Basilio, Reynet – Bamba, Bernard, Paulle, Souquet, Varrault – Amalfitano, Gastien, Marié, Maury, Sammaritano – Bela, Rivière, Saïd, Tavares.

 

Only one first half goal for Tours this season which is odd, as many of your will remember that last season they were the strongest first half team in Ligue 2 ! Dijon are 5-0-0 when leading at the half and their only defeat this season came when trailing at the break.