Dijon’s upturn in fortunes didn’t last very long at all; after beating Montpellier in their last home match, a win that was a first of the season for Olivier Dall’Oglio’s men, they got straight back on the losing on the losing trail away to Caen last time out. Yet again, Dijon showed themselves to be useful in the final third, but an inability to keep teams at bay is still very much there for all to see.
Having made a pleasing start to the season, a start which saw them win each of their first three matches, St Etienne have also hit a bad spell in recent weeks. A 3-0 defeat away to likely title winners PSG can of course be excused; however, failing t beat Angers on home soil, where they’re are usually so good, last time out cannot.
St Etienne are often thought of as one of Ligue 1’s better defensive units and it is indeed easy to see them keeping plenty of clean sheets this season. Having said that, like so many teams, they may well be sucked into Dijon’s world of end-to-end, open football in this match. The hosts love to get forward and, though they can certainly score goals, often abandon their defensive duties. The two bets that catch the eye, as is so often the case when Dijon are involved, are ‘Both Teams to Score’ and ‘Over 2.5 Goals’.
At least three goals have been scored in all five of Dijon’s Ligue 1 matches so far this season, and it’s certainly not been down to coincidence. Olivier Dall’Oglio’s side, despite their limited resources in comparison to many of Ligue 1’s other teams, look to play an attacking game and are both rewarded and punished for doing so on a regular basis. Such a cavalier style often causes problems defensively, but, at the same time, Dijon, who’ve failed to score just once this season, scoring in each of their last four, find themselves competing at the other end as a direct result of getting me forward and having a go. Even against a useful side such as St Etienne, it’s easy to see the home side causing problems here.
As touched on above, St Etienne are often dubbed as a side who’re defensively sound; however, despite keeping three clean sheets in five matches so far this season, they’re already starting to show weaknesses in this respect. Going forward, Óscar García Junyent’s side have had few problems with their only failure coming away at PSG and they certainly won’t be without chances in this match, especially on the break. However, defensively, cracks have started to appear. The visitors may have successfully shut out Nice, Amiens and Caen already this season, but such successes were not without a large slice of fortune. Each of those three teams missed big chances and so too much shouldn’t be read into those clean sheets. Angers created plenty of chances against St Etienne and it’s felt that an attack-minded Dijon can do the same.
With Dijon looking to get forward an expose the floors in St Etienne’s rear-guard, and with the visitors breaking against a back-line that struggles massively to hold firm, the fans in attendance at Stade Gaston Gérard are once again expected to witness a goal-filled encounter.
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