Ligue 1: Racing Club Lens- Montpellier

Sunday January 11th #1

We have eight Coupe de la Ligue (trophy pictured) games this midweek and I sent subscribers a statistical look at how we might expect these (in general terms) to play out, along with previews of today's two matches, the other six ties are scheduled for tomorrow. The stats are below and are a good starting point for looking at the fixtures.....

Monaco got what they needed in midweek and more, with their defeat of Zenit earning them the #1 spot in their group and now they have a lot to look forward to in 2015. Ahead of that game I spoke about their approach and problems......

The situation is clear cut here, if Sochaux win and only win, they are safe and Evian will be relegated, any other result will see the visitors preserve their top flight status.

Valenciennes did us several favours leading up to their disastrous home defeat to Ajaccio at the end of last month, that stalled their momentum and made their survival bid all the more difficult. Before that game my notes read....