The battle for promotion to Ligue 1 takes a rest this week as Strasbourg entrain the Coupe de France against Valenciennes. The match is scheduled for Thursday at the Stade du Hainaut, with a kickoff at 8:45 pm.
Since the start of the season, Strasbourg has been fighting it out in the French top flight in an impressive manner. Meanwhile, Valenciennes struggles to stay above the relegation cut-off in Ligue 2.
Valenciennes were winless in 29 of their previous 40 matches overall, and they had lost three of their past four home games. They had also conceded two or more goals in three of those four games.
Valenciennes (with only two wins at home since April and a single clean sheet since July) are highly unlikely to do well in this match.
On the other hand, Strasbourg was unbeaten in six of their last seven league games, and they had scored two or more goals in four of their previous seven matches. They are also in fine form in Ligue 1.
The Valenciennes FC team has recently enjoyed a good run of results, with the team netting just 3 goals against opposition teams in their last six matches.
However, the team has also seen many opposition goals come against them—a total of 9 in those six matches. That kind of pattern might not be sustained into this match, though.
Valenciennes vs Strasbourg Head to Head
Both sides have 4 games against each other with hosts taking 3 wins while visitors without one. Here is a look at their previous encounters:
Home
- Valenciennes 1-4 Paris FC
- AC Ajaccio 0-0 Valenciennes
- Calonne Ricouart 1-4 Valenciennes
- Valenciennes 1-0 Grenoble
- US Tourcoing 0-2 Valenciennes
Away
- Strasbourg 0-2 Marseille
- Nice 0-3 Strasbourg
- Strasbourg 5-2 Bordeaux
- Monaco 1-1 Strasbourg
- Strasbourg 1-1 Reims
Valenciennes Team News
As the Valenciennes FC manager Christophe Delmotte has no fitness concerns heading into this match, he must be thrilled to have such a healthy squad available to select from.
Strasbourg Team News
Thanks to the good fitness of most of its players, Strasbourg coach Julien Stephan only has one injury concern. Lebo Mothiba (knee injury) will not be playing.
Prediction and Odds
We believe that Valenciennes FC will need to push hard to see themselves scoring against this Strasbourg team, who we believe will score at the other end.
- Strasbourg Win
- Goals Under 2.5
- Most Goals: 2H
