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Crucial match up in the French Ligue 1 as Europe chasing St. Etienne host league leaders PSG
We’ll start with the away side, the best team by far in the league PSG. PSG are currently top of the league by 10 points above 2nd placed Lille and have 2 games in hand. It’s pretty safe to say that the league is in their hands now and within every win they will keep on getting closer to their goal.
PSG are coming off a huge win in Europe beating Man Utd 0-2 despite missing 2 of their 3 attacking star men in Neymar and Cavani proving everyone that even without their two key players they’re still an extremely dangerous side.
To prove PSG’s dominance you don’t have to look much further than their goal difference. Top scoring team with 68 goals which is 26 more than 2nd highest scoring team, and they’ve conceded just 13 which is 6 less than 2nd best defense in the league. PSG’s goal difference is +55 which is better by 35 goals than 2nd best goal differential team. Just ridiculous when you look at it.
With Cavani and Neymar out, Kylian Mbappe is clearly the man to watch. He’s currently the top scorer of Ligue 1 with 18 goals, coming off a solid performance against United in the UCL with a goal. Angel Di Maria will be another key player to watch as in Neymar’s absence he really picked up, he assisted both PSG goals in Europe midweek and will likely be their top creator here again.
Looking at hosts St. Etienne, well they’ve had a bit of a fall lately as they dropped from being 3rd to now being 5th but with a win here they could move to 4th and move within 3 points of 3rd placed Lyon, however the task is daunting here for them.
St. Etienne did stop their bleeding during the midweek fixture when they defeated Strasbourg 2-1, however prior to that they went winless in 4 straight losing 3 and conceding 12 which has made them drop off a little. The win against Strasbourg was of course good for morale boost but St. Etienne need to put together consistent results to be fully back on track, a win here could be massive.
One thing that St. Etienne got going for them is that their home record is very impressive, in fact 2nd best in the league with 9W 2D 1L, the lone loss coming to Lyon right at the death when they lost 1-2.
Wahbi Khazri is the man to watch as he’s the home sides top scorer with 12 league goals, although going scoreless in 4 straight, St. Etienne will likely mostly rely on him to deliver goals if they want to win.
PSG smashed St. Etienne in the reverse fixture earlier this season with a 4-0 win and in that game they were also short handed missing Neymar and Mbappe, arguably more short handed than they will be this weekend.
PSG have dominated Etienne over the years massively going unbeaten in 17 straight to them. PSG have a 12W 5D record against this weekends opponents during these last 17 meetings. PSG have won 5 of last 6 as visitors against St. Etienne the only other game being a draw which was last season.
According to bookies, PSG are the obvious favourites understandably so to win the game at 1.62 while St Etienne are the clear underdogs at 4.90 with Draw tipped at 4.25. Odds based on Unibet.
Team News
St. Etienne: The home side don’t seem to have any serious injury problems coming into this game.
PSG: Neymar remains out while Cavani is doubtful and will likely not be risked meaning PSG will probably be without 2 key attackers again. RB Thomas Meunier is also out. We may see Mbappe start up front again with Cavani out.
Betting Stats
St. Etienne are the 2nd best team at covering total goal overs at Home at 66.7% (8-4).
St. Etienne are the tied 8th best team at covering 1st half total goal overs at 41.7% (5-4-3).
St. Etienne average 1.67 bookings per game at Home (20 bookings in 12 games).
Wahbi Khazri is St. Etienne top scorer at Home with 10 home league goals out of his total 12. 10 goals at home is the 3rd best Ligue 1 record.
St. Etienne are the best Handicap covering team in Ligue 1 this season at 75% (9-3).
St. Etienne are tied 3rd best 1st half Handicap covering team in Ligue 1 this season at 50% (6-6).
PSG are tied 6th best at covering total goal overs away from home in the league this season at 50% (5-5).
PSG are just 14th best at covering total 1st half goal overs at 40% (4-6). Tend to have more goals in the 2nd half.
Cavani, Neymar and Mbappe all have 6 goals each away from home for PSG which is their tied top scorers away from home. With Neymar and Cavani out, Mbappe becomes most likely to score.
PSG average 2 bookings per game away from home this season in the league (20 bookings in 10 games).
PSG are tied 6th best at covering Handicaps away from home in the league this season at 60% (6-1-3).
PSG are 11th best at covering 1st half Handicaps away from home at 40% (4-6).
KICK OFF – 17th February 2019 – 8pm UK Time
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