In this week 25 match on the 18th of February, Metz will travel to Villeneuve d’Ascq to battle Lille in a meeting of these two extremely mismatched Ligue 1 teams. Weather on match day is looking like a windy and cool day, with daytime temperatures of only 6 degrees, so hopefuly the match makes up for the weather. In their last match, 10th placed Lille, recorded a 1-0 shutout win against Montpellier. Xeka struck first for Lille in the 77th minute, and with that single goal the scoring was complete. Neither team could manage anything else In the end, Montpellier couldn’t muster any offence and Lille ran away with the shutout win. With 18 points in their last 10 matches Lille should be reasonably happy with their performance, while 19th placed Metz is fresh off their 1-2 loss against Olympique Marseille. Cédric Bakambu scored the first goal for Olympique Marseille in the 26th minute, then in the 52nd minute, Fali Cande sent in a beautiful pass which was converted by Digbo Maiga. Metz is looking for direction having 3 win and 5 losses in their last 10 matches.
In their last match together, Metz and Lille battled to a 3-3 draw in front of almost 16000. Sven Botman struck first for Lille in the 23rd minute on a feed from Yusuf Yazıcı, then Fabien Centonze tied it up for Metz in the 31st minute .
Metz hasn’t been successful in netting any goals lately. Their top scorers in the last 5 matches are Ibrahima Niane and Digbo Maiga, and they each have 1 goal. Sven Botman has been the most prolific scorer on Lille in his last five matches with two goals
Lille will be without Renato Sanches, Zeki Çelik, Burak Yılmaz and Isaac Lihadji, while Frédéric Antonetti’s Metz squad will be without Manuel Cabit, Sofiane Alakouch, Nicolas de Préville, Matthieu Udol, Kévin N’Doram and Fabien Centonze.