French League
2008-01-12 - Girondins Bordeaux vs AJ Auxerre
A Sports Betting Pick by Kenny
After a short 3 weeks break, the French League 1 resumes this weekend. Last weekend, french teams had the domestic Cup as a warm up to shake off the rustiness from the rest.Bordeaux
Bordeaux went into the winter break in good condition, lying in 3rd place of the table with 33 pts, 6 pts behind league leaders Lyon. They are also still in the Uefa Cup after finishing as group winners with 4 wins out of 4 games. Last weekend, they easily disposed of lower league competition to progress to the next round of the French Cup.
Bordeaux have been performing well at home this season, with 5w 2d 2l, scoring 18 conceding 14. The only 2 losses at home were to leader and reigning champions Lyon, and to 5th place Le Mans (very early in the season).
Bordeaux has scored the 3rd highest number of goals at home, but has also worryingly conceded the 3rd highest goals at home. It perhaps explains why that out of their 5 wins at home, only 1 has been by more than 1 goal, a 3-0 win against Rennes, aided perhaps by a rare clean sheet.
Last 5 home league games :
Bordeaux 2 - 2 Marseille
Bordeaux 4 - 3 Toulouse
Bordeaux 3 - 0 Rennes
Bordeaux 2 - 1 Valenciennes
Bordeaux 1 - 3 Lyon
In last 5 home games, Bordeaux has 3-1-1, scoring 12 conceding 9. After the last loss to Lyon at home, Bordeaux is unbeaten in 4 home league games, and if we include the 2 UEFA Cup home wins played in between, Bordeaux is actually on a 6 games unbeaten streak at home.
Auxerre
Auxerre is in a dismal state this season, lying in 15th place in the table on 23 pts, only 3 pts away from the relegation pack. Their problem has been their vastly erratic form at home and dismal performances on the road, and their leaky defence. In fact, Auxerre has conceded the most number of goals this season in the league.
Away from home, Auxerre has the 2nd worst record, with 1-2-6, scoring 3 goals and conceding 17. The 3 goals scored is the lowest away tally by any team, and the 17 goals conceded is the highest leaked by any team also. Auxerre's only away win came against bottom table FC Metz, who has not yet won a single game at home this season. All their 6 losses have been by more than 1 goal.
Last 5 away games :
Valenciennes 3-0 Auxerre
Metz 0-1 Auxerre
Sochaux 1-1 Auxerre
St Etienne 0-0 Auxerre
Lens 2-0 Auxerre
Last 5 road games read as 1-2-2, scoring 2 conceding 6. They were on a 3 match unbeaten run after losing to Lens, but 2 of those games were against the bottom 2 teams (Sochaux and Metz), and were brought back down to earth in the 3-0 thrashing by Valenciennes.
HEAD TO HEAD
Out of the last 13 meetings at Bordeaux, the home team has 7-4-2, scoring 13 conceding 6. Both teams have already met this season, albeit at Auxerre, with Bordeaux winning by 2-0.
Verdict
Bordeaux have been in solid if unspectacular form this season. Although their defence is a worry, but the have been playing well enough to get the wins they need, and have been consistent at home. With a little tweaking of the porous defence, Lyon could find Bordeaux breathing down their necks.
Auxerre though is having a nightmarish season. Their horrid defending has caused them lots of pts this season, and unless something is done soon, this famous french club could find themselves in a rather unglamorous relegation dogfight.
With such a horrid away form, I can see no other result other than a Bordeaux win. A game with quite a couple of goals is also on the cards, what with both teams conceding goals freely.
Only factor that could prevent goals galore would be Auxerre's inability to score on their travels.
BEST BETTING TIP :
Take Bordeaux to win @ 1.72Over 2.25 goals @ 1.925
