2022/23				Overall									Home						Away
				P	W	D	L	F	A	Gdf	Pts	Form	P	W	D	L	F	A	P	W	D	L	F	A
	1		Le Havre	31	17	13	1	41	14	+27	64	WOWX	15	9	6	0	21	7	16	8	7	1	20	7
	2		Bordeaux	31	16	8	7	42	26	+16	56	LWWW	15	9	4	2	21	9	16	7	4	5	21	17
	3		Metz	31	15	10	6	48	27	+21	55	WXWW	16	8	6	2	23	12	15	7	4	4	25	15
	4		Sochaux	31	15	7	9	51	29	+22	52	LWLW	16	9	4	3	31	14	15	6	3	6	20	15
	5		Bastia	31	15	6	10	38	34	+4	51	WLWW	16	10	2	4	22	12	15	5	4	6	16	22
	6		Caen	31	13	10	8	40	33	+7	49	WLWW	16	10	5	1	26	11	15	3	5	7	14	22
	7		Grenoble	30	13	8	9	30	25	+5	47	WWLW	15	8	4	3	16	11	15	5	4	6	14	14
	8		Quevilly-Rouen	31	11	10	10	35	34	+1	43	XWLL	16	6	7	3	25	19	15	5	3	7	10	15
	9		Guingamp	31	11	9	11	39	39	+0	42	WOLX	16	5	3	8	20	22	15	6	6	3	19	17
	10		Paris FC	31	11	7	13	36	40	-4	40	LLWL	15	4	3	8	17	21	16	7	4	5	19	19
	11		Amiens	31	11	7	13	33	40	-7	40	LWLL	15	7	3	5	17	15	16	4	4	8	16	25
	12		Saint-Étienne1	30	11	9	10	47	45	+2	39	WWXX	15	7	4	4	24	20	15	4	5	6	23	25
	13		Rodez	31	9	10	12	31	38	-7	37	WLWW	16	4	5	7	15	23	15	5	5	5	16	15

 

Bordeaux, Metz and St Etienne came down from Ligue 1 last season and that trio had the largest second tier budgets this season. They also have the three largest home average attendance and Bordeaux and St Etienne are the two biggest clubs in the division. Obviously ASSE are the odd one out, languishing in 12th place, but they are carrying a three point deduction, fell out of the blocks and could move up to 9th with the win this evening. They were bottom of the table, six points from safety through their first 17 starts, but had good numbers right through that terrible start and have subsequently collected 2.08 points pg, which is automatic promotion form. They are too far back to make top 2 (there are no playoffs this season as Ligue 1 is being reduced to 18 teams) as even winning out would probably not be enough points, but they will want to continue to build for a big push next season and after two relegation campaigns in the last three seasons (one unsuccessful) and another for the first half of this, they will want to make the most of their good run and assert themselves as a big Ligue 2 player. 

 

St Etienne come in at 6th for xP, some 20 points ahead of Grenoble, which is a massive 28 point swing over the actual table and the host's biggest overachievement has come on home soil where they have collected 28 points, double what their expected number is (14). The visitors are the division's third highest scorers and only Metz have more road goals to their name. 

 

Laurent Batlles returned to St Etienne to take over as head coach this season, the club where he finished his playing career and started his coaching career as an assistant, he took Troyes up from L2 as champions in 2021 in his first job as a head coach and knows the second tier well . He was doubtless under huge pressure following such an awful start, but the club have stuck with him and his record at this level as head coach of over 1.77 points per game, across almost 100 matches, would always get you top 5 as a minimum and usually higher. He will also want/need a good finish to prove he is the right man for the job and ensure he gets good funding again next season, when there will be four teams from L1 coming down.

 

2 units St Etienne -0.75 ball  asian line.

 

Good luck!