Lineups, issues, history of confrontations, discover the essential information you need to know a few hours before the match RC Lens – Toulouse on behalf of the 16th day of Ligue 1.
Towards an unprecedented three pass?
At the end of a pretty crazy week, with the various twists and turns surrounding the possible transfer of Brice Samba to Rennes, RC Lens will try to ignore the extraportive to maintain its positive series in Ligue 1 against Toulouse. Last resident of the first part of the table (9th), the club from the pink city has not been talked about much since the start of the season. And if a certain glass ceiling appears against the candidates for Europe, Guillaume Restes’ teammates nonetheless remain an adversary to be taken very seriously. Under penalty of experiencing a real misadventure.
Thomasson relaunched?
With no less than eight players absent, Will Still doesn’t really have many options to try to surprise Toulouse. If John Chavez could start in a left winger role or the use of a three-way defense with Malang Sarr et Jonathan Gradet around Kevin Danso cannot be excluded, the 4-2-3-1 should hold the rope. Therefore, Florian Sotoca should make his return to the right lane, a month and a half after his last start, alongsideAnas Zaroury et Angelo Fulgini.
Will Still talks about the strengths of Toulouse
“It’s very interesting, it’s a good team, in good shape. They finished 2024 well. They have a very pronounced and direct style of play, with a lot of verticality in what they do. They are very reactive to counter-pressing and they manage to put a lot of teams in difficulty with their depth. There will be a lot of intensity in the match, a lot of racing. It’s up to us to be good, to use the ball wisely. They don’t necessarily keep the ball for long sequences, but when they have it they are very effective with it. We took the time to prepare things well. »
The history: advantage Lens
In the 80 confrontations between the two teams since 1946, RC Lens dominates by a narrow margin with a record of 31 victories for 24 draws and 29 defeats. Better yet, the dynamic is in favor of the Sang et Or who have won each of their last 6 Ligue 1 matches against Toulouse and could, if successful, establish their longest consecutive winning streak in the elite against the same opponent (6 also against Bastia in 1985-95 and Sochaux in 2006-09). Last year, Wesley Saïd and Morgan Guilavogui helped us win at the Bollaert stadium. On the return, the scorers were David Pereira Da Costa and Andy Diouf.
The latest confrontations:
L1 – 28/01/24 : Toulouse – Lens : 0-2 (Pereira Da Costa, Diouf)
L1 – 24/09/23 : Lens – Toulouse: 2-1 (Saïd, Guilavogui)
L1 – 02/05/23 : Toulouse – Lens : 0-1 (Experts)
L1 – 28/10/22 : Lens – Toulouse : 3-0 (Openda *3)
L1 – 14/03/15 : Lens – Toulouse : 1-0 (Chavarria)
RC LENS – TOULOUSE
16th day of Ligue 1
Sunday January 5, 3 p.m.
Stade Bollaert-Delelis, Lens
Photo credits: Romain Perrocheau/FEP/Icon Sport
