DomainJava.com – Nice vs Rennes prediction in French Ligue 1 match, For the third season in a row, Nice and Rennes will face each other in their first Ligue 1 match of the New Year, when they meet at the Allianz Riviera on Friday.
While Les Aiglons are unbeaten at home in the French top flight, their visitors from Breton will be looking for a first away win of the season.
Barely avoiding embarrassment, Nice got past National 3 Corte’s side in the Coupe de France just before Christmas, when Yael Nandjou’s first-half saw them trail by a goal and down to 10 men heading into the final half hour.
Tanguy Ndombele then scored to take the last 64 to a penalty shootout, and a series of five perfect penalty kicks ultimately saved the Ligue 1 club’s embarrassment.
Earlier, Franck Haise’s side drew their last league game away to bottom side Montpellier HSC, twice squandering one-goal leads.
As a result, Nice is in sixth place in the standings, behind Lyon and Lille in the race for the top four.
Les Aiglons are one of only two teams yet to lose a home game in France’s top flight this season, along with reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain, and they also enter their first game of 2025 with a long goalscoring streak.
Having scored in their last nine games in Ligue 1 – the club’s best record since April 2021 – Haise and company will hope to extend Nice’s positive record against Rennes: they have lost just three of the teams’ last 18 league meetings.
Although this is the third season in a row that the two teams have met in their first match of the New Year, the previous two games were at Rennes, where the hosts came out victorious twice: winning 2-1 in 2023 and then 2-0 in in 2024.
However, Les Rennais enter this match sitting 12th in the Ligue 1 standings, just four points clear of the relegation places, having sacked their manager this season.
Julien Stephan was replaced in the dugout by coach Jorge Sampaoli, who has since guided his new side to three wins from their first five games, including the recent 2-0 league win over Angers.
His latest success came in the Coupe de France, where Adrien Truffert’s goal brought Rennes level against slumping giants Bordeaux, ultimately paving the way for a 4-1 win over their fourth division hosts.
Les Rouge et Noirs are still searching for their first away win in Ligue 1, having suffered six defeats from seven away games so far – in fact, the Breton club have lost their last three games without even scoring a goal.
Entering the new year, Franck Haise is still hampered by an injury-hit Nice squad, with many first-team players missing, most notably last season’s top scorer Terem Moffi, midfielder Morgan Sanson and veteran centre-back Dante.
Victor Orakpo, Jeremie Boga and Antoine Mendy were also unavailable for the hosts, whose attacking approach often left Marcin Bulka exposed. The Poland international has the best save percentage of any goalkeeper in Ligue 1 this season (77%).
Meanwhile, on the front lines, Gaetan Laborde must be supported by Evann Guessand, the latter of whom is his club’s top scorer in the league with six goals so far.
Rennes striker Arnaud Kalimuendo has also scored half a dozen goals in France’s top flight this season, and he also scored in their last cup win over Bordeaux.
The visitors will head south without Alidu Seidu (ACL) but have a few other fitness concerns ahead of their first match of 2025.
Linked with a move back to England in the January transfer window, out-of-favour midfielder Glen Kamara has been placed on the bench again, after being pushed further by the recruitment of Seko Fofana from Al-Nassr..(ed)
(source: Sportsmole)
Nice vs Rennes Player Predictions
Nice : Bulka; Clauss, Rosary, Bombito, Bard; Bouanani, Boudaoui, Ndombele; Laborde, Guessand, Diop
Rennes: Mandanda; Hateboer, Ostigard, Truffert; Assignon, James, Matusiwa, Nagida; Blas, Gouiri; Kalimuendo
Nice vs Rennes Score Prediction: 2-1
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