Lyon – Saint-Etienne: a fiery derby to revive the rivalry

Lyon faces its eternal enemy Saint Etienne at the end of the 11th day of Ligue 1. Almost 32& ;nbsp;months since the two teams last faced each other in an official match. An eternity for players and fans.

It was January 21, 2022, the date of the last OL-ASSE derby in Ligue 1 (victory of Lyon 1-0). Two and a half years since the many fans of the Rhone and Saint-Etienne last tasted the flavor of this particular match and the patience was really long. 32 months is a long time and a lot has changed since then. ASSE has tasted in the purgatory of L2, while OL is still waiting for the emergence of a stable and dominant squad that the numerous transfers in both directions have never helped to hatch. As promoted, Saint-Etienne no longer really plays in the same category as OL, but the gap in the standings between the two teams is only 5 points (in favor of Lyon) and a victory for the visitors could well galvanize Olivier Dall'Oglio's men.

Both clubs still have local players in their respective squads who have been immersed in the derby atmosphere, such as the Greens' central defender Léo Pétrot “It's a chance to play in a derby for a pure Stéphanois like me. It's up to me to pass on certain messages to the new players. They have already understood and will continue to understand it well. We will do the jersey proud and give it our all, ", Gones captain Alexandre Lacazette agrees "They have been our rivals for ages, and there are even fans who would rather win the two derbies than the championship. Videos come back regularly, we were able to show them and I hope they resonated in their minds”.

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More freshness among the Greens

Even if Pierre Sage, the OL coach, has largely rotated his team for the trip to Hoffenheim on Thursday in the Europa League (only Caleta-Car is expected to start two games in a row), the physical resources will not be on the side of the Lyonnais against an opponent who plays one match per week at the start of the season. For Lacazette, this handicap is not really one because the desire and the will to win the derby represents a big source of motivation “When we heard they were going up to Ligue 1, it was an important date for us. We're here, it's good. I wouldn't say there's any impatience because we play every three days and we've just come back from Germany”.

For 125th Rhone-Alpes derby (46 wins for OL, 44 for ASSE), neither team has any major injuries. The only major absentees from the match are the Saint-Etienne supporters, who are not allowed to travel for this match. On the sidelines of this match, a tribute should be dedicated to Rachid Mekhloufi, the “revolutionary gentleman”, former player of the Greens, died on Friday.  If the Lyon club can offer this favor as a sign of respect to ASSE and to the former Algerian striker of the opposing team, the players themselves will not offer any gift to their best enemies on the pitch.

At what time will the match take place ?

The match between Lyon and Saint-Etienne will start this Sunday at 8:45 p.m., it will be led by referee Willy Delajod, 32 years old.

On which TV channel is the match broadcast ?

The match between Lyon and Saint-Etienne will be broadcast exclusively on DAZN1

What streaming broadcast for this match?

If you are a subscriber, you will be able to watch the Lyon – Saint-Etienne match on the DAZN platform.

The probable line-ups:

The probable line-up of Lyon : Perri – Maitland Niles, Caleta-Car, Niakhaté, Tagliafico – Veretout, Matic, Tolisso – Cherki, Lacazette, Fofana
The probable line-up of Saint-Etienne: Larsonneur – Appiah, Batubinsika, Nadé, Cornud – Bouchouari, Ekwah, Mouton – Boakye, Sissoko, Daviatchvili

The different odds:

Olympique Lyonnais is the clear favorite for this derby against ASSE, who only took one point from away

Betclic: Lyon 1.30/Draw 6.00/Saint-Etienne 8.05.
Unibet: Lyon 1.30/Draw 6.00/Saint-Etienne 8.05.
Parions Sports: Lyon 1.32/Draw 6.00/Saint-Etienne 7.25.