Lens and Lille set for northern derby clash
Lens are fresh from recording one of their finest results in continental competition after coming from behind to beat Arsenal 2-1 in front of a raucous home crowd in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday. Les Sang et Or looked to be in for a long night after falling behind early on against the English heavyweights, but Adrien Thomasson quickly equalised and then Elye Wahi – who had set up the first goal – grabbed a fine winner midway through the second half.
Suddenly Lens have found form again after collecting just one point from their first five Ligue 1 Uber Eats outings this season. A come-from-behind 1-1 draw away to Sevilla in Spain in their first Champions League group game has kickstarted their campaign, and the midweek defeat of Arsenal was a third win in a row for Franck Haise’s side.
“It was an exceptional performance from all of us. My first Champions League goal will stay in my memory forever,” said Wahi, the young striker signed from Montpellier Hérault SC for a reported club-record fee of €35 million.
“It was great to see the stadium explode like that when I scored because I am not used to that. The start of the season has been difficult for us and for me personally, but I am feeling better and better every day and I am getting to know my teammates better too.”
Wahi’s superb display against Arsenal came after he grabbed his first Lens goal last weekend with a fine strike to secure a 1-0 win away at RC Strasbourg Alsace. Now Haise’s side are aiming to keep their winning run going in front of what will be another big crowd. Lens have an exceptional home record too, losing just two of their last 28 games at Bollaert in all competitions, a run that goes back to March last year.
Lille to bring back key players after trip to Faroes
Lille make the short trip down to the Pas-de-Calais having had little time to recover from Thursday’s Europa Conference League game away to KÍ Klaksvík of the Faroe Islands. As far as European occasions go, LOSC’s match could not have contrasted more starkly with that of Lens, as Paulo Fonseca’s side played out a 0-0 draw in front of just a couple of thousand spectators in the North Atlantic archipelago.
As much as it was an underwhelming result, it kept Lille on course to progress to the knockout stage and was achieved despite Fonseca making eight changes to his starting line-up following last weekend’s 2-0 win at Le Havre AC. Among those to start the game was midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi, who made history as the youngest player ever to appear in UEFA competition at the age of just 16 years and three days.
“It was very important for us to rest certain players and rotate. Ayyoub has trained with us over the last week. I think we have got ourselves a player for the future. He played with lots of courage, quality and personality. I am very, very satisfied with his performance,” said Fonseca, whose team have lost just once in seven games.
The starting line-up in Lens will be much more like that in Le Havre last weekend, with Canada star Jonathan David returning to lead the line after being rested as LOSC look to extend the four-point gap between the teams in the table.
“Jonathan David is the only striker in our squad. That is why we need to watch how often he plays. We need him on top form for Sunday. We have two days to prepare the best we can for the derby in terms of tactics and strategy. We don’t have much time,” said the coach.
Fonseca was hoping to welcome back both Nabil Bentaleb and Adam Ounas for the game but was unsure about Samuel Umtiti, with the France international centre-back still recovering from concussion suffered in the recent home loss to Stade de Reims. Lens, meanwhile, will be without Jonathan Gradit for the first time this season as the defensive stalwart serves a one-match suspension.
Possible teams
Lens: Samba (c); Khusanov, Danso, Medina; Águilar, Diouf, Abdul Samed, Machado; Fulgini, Thomasson; Wahi
Lille: Chevalier; Diakité, Yoro, Alexsandro, Ismaily; André (c), Angel Gomes; Zhegrova, Cabella, Cavaleiro; David
