Ligue 1 Betting: League leaders Lyon set to face stiff test at Lorient

Lyon's Anthony Lopes will have plenty to do this weekend

After four winners from six tips last weekend, James Eastham brings you the lowdown on the latest round of French action...

Bordeaux v St Etienne (6th v 4th)
Sun, 13:00 GMT

Bordeaux are as big as 2.89/5 to win this game. That's a good price as the momentum has swung towards Bordeaux in recent weeks.

Willy Sagnol's hosts won and kept a clean sheet at Evian (1-0) last weekend. The coach's team selection options are improving as several players - centre-back Lamine Sane, midfielders Abdou Traore, Andre Biyogo Poko and Wahbi Khazri and winger Henri Saivet - recently returned from Africa Cup of Nations duty. After some difficult piecing the team together in recent weeks there is now healthy competition for places.

St Etienne have also welcomed back players from international duty in Equatorial Guinea but they have serious injury problems. Centre-backs Moustapha Bayal Sall and Florentin Pogba, midfielders Renaud Cohade and Benjamin Corgnet and left-winger Kevin Monnet-Paquet have all been sidelined by injury. That is a real problem because St Etienne have had a busier fixture list than Bordeaux: since the start of the year St Etienne have played nine games in all competitions (W2-D4-L3) whereas Bordeaux have played only seven (W2-D3-L2).

I would expect Bordeaux to pick up at least a point so either back the hosts to win or on the Asian handicap.

Recommended Bet
Bordeaux 0 Asian handicap @ 1.910/11

Lorient v Lyon (16th v 1st)
Sun, 20:00 GMT
Live on BT Sport 2

Lorient produced an excellent performance at Reims (3-1 win) last weekend. The addition of 1.8 million signing Romain Philippoteaux (Ligue 2 Dijon) gave them real thrust on the wing, and this week Jordan Ayew returns from Africa Cup of Nations duty to add quality and competition in attack.

Lorient have already shown what a force they can be at home against Ligue 1's better teams this season. In November they outplayed PSG for 45 minutes and were unlucky to lose 2-1 and the following month they deserved better at home to Marseille (1-1).

Given those home performances I'm willing to support Lorient on the Asian handicap, especially as Lyon are below-strength this weekend. Their 21-goal leading scorer Alexandre Lacazette is still sidelined and their defence remains considerably weaker without Milan Bisevac as understudies Lindsay Rose and Bakary Kone are raw and error-prone respectively (for more advice on Asian handicap betting, click here).

'Yes' in the Both Teams to Score? market is the second selection. Lorient have the skills and quality to take advantage of Lyon's defensive worries but keep few clean sheets - the hosts have conceded in 15 out of their last 18 games in all competitions. Even though Lacazette is missing I'm confident Lyon will score.

Recommended Bets
Lorient +0&+0.5 Asian handicap @ 1.910/11
'Yes' in Both Teams to Score? market @ 1.855/6

2014-15 P/L (1pt per bet)

Staked: 81pts
Returned: 83.08pts
P/L: +2.08pts