Ligue 1 | Gameweek 24

Mar 1, 2025 at 6pm UK

Stade Bollaert-Delelis

Lens vs Le Havre

Match preview

Lens were in the top four at the start of February, but Will Still's men now find themselves eight points adrift of Champions League qualification in eighth place, with Conference football potentially slipping away from them as well.

After three successive defeats in Ligue 1, the Blood and Gold will be desperate to avoid making it four, which would be their worst run since they were relegated in 2014-15.

Lack of discipline has been a major problem, with all three of those defeats involving a red card, including last week's 3-1 loss at Nantes when M'Bala Nzola was sent off with 20 minutes remaining with the score 2-1.

Going down to 10 men so often is unlikely to help their attacking woes either, as no team outside the bottom three has scored fewer goals than Lens (26), and although it has often been a strength of Still's teams, their defensive stability has also been lacking of late.

Losing five of your 11 home games is always going to make European qualification difficult, and this is already Lens' worst record in a season since they were a Ligue 2 club in 2017-18, losing eight of their 19 games at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis.

Home wins against Le Havre are also a rarity, with none of the last four going in their favour, and their last success here in Ligue 2 came in 2016.

However, they will be hoping that a 2-1 win in January marked the end of their dreadful record against Le Havre, as they went into this fixture on a 12-game run without a win against their upcoming opponents in all competitions and at all venues.

Confidence will also be at an all-time low for the visitors, who have lost 16 of their 23 Ligue 1 games this season.

Only two clubs in Ligue 1 history have survived relegation after such a run of defeats, and both of those were almost 100 years ago, when there were more teams in the top flight and therefore more time to dig themselves out of trouble.

However, the lack of quality at the bottom of Ligue 1 this season suggests that Le Havre could buck that trend, as they sit just two points adrift of Saint-Etienne in the relegation play-off spot.

A repeat of last weekend's 4-1 home defeat to Toulouse would make the gap insurmountable, but Didier Digard's side were kept off the bottom thanks to Montpellier's defeat at Nice.

Recent Performance

Lens Ligue 1 form:LWWLLL

Le Havre Ligue 1 form:DLDWLL

Team News

Lens welcome back Deiver Machado and Hamzat Ojediran from suspension, but Nzola's red card at Nantes last weekend means the hosts will be without the striker for this game.

Fellow attacker Martin Satriano remains sidelined with a long-term knee injury, the same problem that sidelined Remy Labeau Lascary, who tore his anterior cruciate ligament a few weeks ago, while full-back Jhoanner Chavez is also on the treatment table with an ankle injury.

Le Havre will also be without Junior Mwanga, who was sent off against Toulouse last weekend.

The fitness of Fode Ballo-Toure remains a question mark, despite playing 75 minutes in the defeat, while Daler Kuzyaev, Andy Logbo, Arouna Sangante and Yann Kitala are also doubts.

Issa Soumare failed to score in his first 18 months at Le Havre, but after netting his first goal in the win at Lille, he found the net again last weekend and should start this game.

Possible starting lineup

Lens possible starting lineup:

Ryan; Aguilar, Gradit, Medina, Machado; El Aynaoui, Diouf, Thomasson; Said, Sotoca, Zaroury

Le Havre possible starting lineup:

Gorgelin; Nego, Youte Kinkoue, Lloris, Ballo-Toure; Diawara, Casimir, Kechta; Soumare, Hassan, Joujou