Clément Pédron, Media365: published on Sunday January 19, 2025 at 11:09 a.m.
AS Saint-Étienne and FC Nantes face each other this Sunday afternoon in a nostalgic clash. Both teams have the same objective: to climb back to the top of the table.
This is an opposition that those under twenty cannot experience. We deliberately took a liberty with the words but it is to underline how much this poster between AS Saint-Étienne and FC Nantes once exuded the (very) top of the table. For a long time, these two teams were part of the elite of the French championship, enhanced by high-class players. In 2025, ASSE and FCN are still in the first division – even if the Greens have just returned after two seasons in Ligue 2 – but this confrontation no longer has the objective of determining the winner of the championship. This Sunday, in a Geoffroy-Guichard stadium deprived of a large part of its supporters due to a sanction, the Greens and the Canaries are fighting to hope to extricate themselves from the red zone.
-At the time of writing these lines, the Stéphanois are in the penultimate place in Ligue 1, just behind the Nantais, due to a poorer goal difference. Ahead of these two teams, we find Stade Rennais at one point then Angers at three points. In other words, the stakes are high for two clubs which no longer really are.
Horneland on the rebound, Kombouaré still there
Dropped at the start of the championship, AS Saint-Étienne, through its new owners, changed course before Christmas. Exit Olivier Dall'Oglio, hello Norway with Eirik Horneland. Under the orders of the Scandinavian, the Greens achieved a saving success against Reims (3-1) before losing against PSG (2-1) whose final score is not representative of the scenario of the match. It therefore seems that the new technician is succeeding in setting in motion a new dynamic and faced with a direct competitor for maintenance, we must not have our legs trembling. Opposite, FC Nantes is not at its best either. A few days ago, the Canaries were eliminated from the Coupe de France by Brest but came out of two draws against Lille and Monaco with a taste of defeat. The FCN has not won in Ligue 1 since December 8 at the time against Rennes and must, still with Kombouaré at the helm, reverse the situation if it does not want to continue a new season in fear.
