Lyon will aim, at worst, to maintain a place in Europe with a victory on Sunday at Groupama Stadium against Lorient.<\/p>\n
Heading into matchday 29 of the Ligue 1 season, Les Gones are sixth following a 0-0 draw at Angers, with Lorient 10 points behind them in ninth after drawing 1-1 with Paris FC.<\/p>\n
\n
Match preview<\/h2>\n
A place in Europe appeared to be a certainty for Olympique Lyonnais before the month of March came around.<\/p>\n
Since the beginning of last month, Paulo Fonseca\u2019s side have hit a rough patch, without a single competitive triumph, while exiting both the Coupe de France and Europa League.<\/p>\n
For the moment, they are just a point above Rennes for the final place in Europe heading into this matchday and are winless in six straight contests domestically.<\/p>\n
In their last four competitive fixtures, Lyon have netted just one goal overall, while scoring one or fewer in those previous six instances.<\/p>\n
OL have a mere one point from their previous four matches at Groupama Stadium across all competitions, squandering a 1-0 advantage to lose 2-1 versus Monaco in their last Ligue 1 game at home.<\/p>\n
This season, Lyon are unbeaten at home in this competition versus newly promoted teams, with their only such triumph coming against Metz last August (3-0).<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.sportsmole.co.uk\/thumbor\/DbuTV7XtfWl3yUNHgnBOeU3DviQ=\/640x480\/smart\/filters:format(webp)\/https%3A%2F%2Fsportsmole-media-prod.s3.gra.io.cloud.ovh.net%2Fuploads%2F2026%2F02%2Fmontassar-talbi-6983f67f7fa16387678041.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n\u00a9 Imago \/ PsnewZ<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Wins have been few and far between in recent times for Lorient, but they have likely done enough to remain in Ligue 1 for another campaign.<\/p>\n
With six matches to go, they are guaranteed not to finish in the bottom two, while Auxerre are in the relegation playoffs and 15 points below the Brittany club.<\/p>\n
It is a longshot but if Olivier Pantaloni\u2019s men can win out, they would eclipse their 2022-23 Ligue 1 campaign points total, when they earned 55.<\/p>\n
Lorient are winless in their last four top-flight affairs away from home but have earned a point in two of those previous three outings.<\/p>\n
They have a 100% away record domestically this year when scoring first, doing so on only two occasions in 2026.<\/p>\n
Les Merlus have points in their last three visits to Groupama Stadium and on Sunday could win both Ligue 1 outings against them in the same season for the first time this century.<\/p>\n
Lyon Ligue 1 form:<\/p>\n
Lyon form (all competitions):<\/p>\n
Lorient Ligue 1 form:<\/p>\n
Lorient form (all competitions):<\/p>\n
\n
Team News<\/h2>\n\n\n![](\"https:\/\/www.sportsmole.co.uk\/thumbor\/dTJ_0czRJcAwOoSEHXknWiU5U8A=\/640x480\/smart\/filters:format(webp)\/https%3A%2F%2Fsportsmole-media-prod.s3.gra.io.cloud.ovh.net%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F11%2Fmoussa-niakhate-6928dcceda1c8515955168.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n\u00a9 Imago<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
A muscle issue could keep Ruben Kluivert out of the Lyon fold this weekend, Noham Kamara is dealing with adductor pain, Malick Fofana has a sore ankle, Pavel Sulc is questionable due to a knock and Ernest Nuamah has a cruciate ligament injury.<\/p>\n
Nicolas Tagliafico will be suspended, while Remi Himbert is likely to miss another week because of an ankle problem.<\/p>\n
At Lorient, Isaak Toure is expected to miss another game with a knock, Laurent Abergel is dealing with ankle soreness, Bandiougou Fadiga has a groin strain and Arsene Kouassi will be suspended.<\/p>\n
Bamba Dieng gave his side the lead less than 10 minutes into the second half last week, drawing even with Pablo Pagis for the team lead in Ligue 1 this season, with his eighth of the campaign.<\/p>\n
Lyon possible starting lineup:<\/strong><\/p>\nGrief; Maitland-Niles, Mata, Niakhate, Abner; Tessmann, Morton; Karabec, Tolisso, Moreira; Endrick<\/p>\n
Lorient possible starting lineup:<\/strong><\/p>\nMvogo; Meite, Talby, Faye; Le Bris, Cadiou, Avom, Sanusi, Makengo, Pagis; Dieng<\/p>\n
\n\n
\n![](\"https:\/\/www.sportsmole.co.uk\/thumbor\/aAWazEIN-TXYyGNUOzzmBClUe-g=\/210x53\/smart\/filters:format(webp)\/https%3A%2F%2Fsportsmole-media-prod.s3.gra.io.cloud.ovh.net%2F20%2F33%2Fsm-words-green-background.png\"\/)
<\/div>\n<\/div>\nWe say: Lyon 1-1 Lorient<\/h2>\n
Lorient have been slow out of the gate away from home, but have often made a comeback, and Lyon\u2019s inability to close out games lately has us leaning towards a draw in this one.<\/p>\n
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.<\/p>\n
\n
\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lyon will aim, at worst, to maintain a place in Europe with a victory on Sunday at Groupama Stadium against Lorient. Heading into matchday 29 of the Ligue 1 season, Les Gones are sixth following a 0-0 draw at Angers, with Lorient 10 points behind them in ninth after drawing 1-1 with Paris FC. Match […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4350,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/p>\n\u00a9 Imago<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
A muscle issue could keep Ruben Kluivert out of the Lyon fold this weekend, Noham Kamara is dealing with adductor pain, Malick Fofana has a sore ankle, Pavel Sulc is questionable due to a knock and Ernest Nuamah has a cruciate ligament injury.<\/p>\n
Nicolas Tagliafico will be suspended, while Remi Himbert is likely to miss another week because of an ankle problem.<\/p>\n
At Lorient, Isaak Toure is expected to miss another game with a knock, Laurent Abergel is dealing with ankle soreness, Bandiougou Fadiga has a groin strain and Arsene Kouassi will be suspended.<\/p>\n
Bamba Dieng gave his side the lead less than 10 minutes into the second half last week, drawing even with Pablo Pagis for the team lead in Ligue 1 this season, with his eighth of the campaign.<\/p>\n
Lyon possible starting lineup:<\/strong><\/p>\n Grief; Maitland-Niles, Mata, Niakhate, Abner; Tessmann, Morton; Karabec, Tolisso, Moreira; Endrick<\/p>\n Lorient possible starting lineup:<\/strong><\/p>\n Mvogo; Meite, Talby, Faye; Le Bris, Cadiou, Avom, Sanusi, Makengo, Pagis; Dieng<\/p>\n \n Lorient have been slow out of the gate away from home, but have often made a comeback, and Lyon\u2019s inability to close out games lately has us leaning towards a draw in this one.<\/p>\n For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.<\/p>\n Lyon will aim, at worst, to maintain a place in Europe with a victory on Sunday at Groupama Stadium against Lorient. Heading into matchday 29 of the Ligue 1 season, Les Gones are sixth following a 0-0 draw at Angers, with Lorient 10 points behind them in ninth after drawing 1-1 with Paris FC. Match […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4350,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nWe say: Lyon 1-1 Lorient<\/h2>\n
\n
\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"