After suffering their first setback of the season on Sunday, Lyon can stretch their winning run at home to seven straight domestic games when they welcome newly-promoted Auxerre to Groupama Stadium on Wednesday.
Olympique Lyonnais scored four minutes before the 90, drawing Reims 1-1, while AJA have won back-to-back Ligue 1 fixtures, edging Strasbourg 1-0.
Match preview
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Peter Bosz did not mince words following his side's draw this past weekend as they struggled to contend with their opponents' low block, eventually finding a breakthrough in the latter stages.
It was the most stagnant this side had looked in the early portion of the domestic campaign, as they failed to take advantage of all of their possession (74%) with that final ball often letting them down.
Wednesday will be the first time in over a decade that they will face the side from Burgundy in a top-flight affair, with OL going unbeaten against them at home in this competition since 2008-09.
Their current streak of six consecutive domestic wins at Groupama Stadium is the longest string of home victories for OL in the top-flight since 2018, when they won eight in a row between March and August of that year.
Lyon lead the league in possession, averaging 69.2% after three games, while they have allowed the fewest goals in the French league so far (three), four fewer than they conceded in their opening three games of 2021-22.
Les Gones have won their last 12 domestic affairs in which they tallied the opening goal and have not lost a Ligue 1 fixture in 2022 when drawing first blood.
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Following a tentative opening top-flight encounter where they trailed 2-0 after three minutes in a 4-1 defeat at Lille, Auxerre seem to have settled down nicely with points in three straight domestic affairs.
In their first Ligue 1 campaign in over a decade, Jean-Marc Furlan's men have made up quickly for lost time, capturing seven points after four contests, their highest tally to this point of a top-flight campaign since 2005-06 (also seven).
So far in 2022, Auxerre have lost just one of their 12 away matches in all competitions, coming back to beat Montpellier 2-1 in their previous road game, their first triumph as the visitors in this competition since May 2012 when they blanked Dijon 2-0.
Their seven goals conceded thus far are as many as this club allowed in their opening four matches of the 2011-12 campaign, which was the last time they appeared in the top tier of French football prior to this season.
Dating back to last season, AJA have earned seven points in their previous four domestic encounters when trailing at the half, with all of those matches coming away from home.
They suffered only one defeat in Ligue 2 last season when scoring the opening goal, losing 2-1 versus Paris FC at the start of February.
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Team News
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Moussa Dembele scored his first of the season on Sunday, helping Lyon escape their road fixture against Reims with a single point.
He has found the back of the net in each of his last eight Ligue 1 affairs (10 goals total), the longest such run for an OL player since Sonny Anderson scored in 11 straight matches between February and August 2001.
Rayan Cherki picked up his first assist of the campaign this past weekend, while Tete leads them with three goals so far in this competition.
Alexandre Lacazette has two goals in his return to OL, while Romain Faivre is seeking his first start of the new season after scoring 10 goals for Lyon and Brest in 2021-22.
Sinaly Diomande is out with a muscle problem, Jerome Boateng and Julian Pollersbeck both sat out of another match last weekend with unknown issues and Houssem Aouar is unlikely to be ready until the middle of next month due to an ankle injury.
Auxerre goalkeeper Benoit Costil collected his first clean sheet in Ligue 1 since May 16, 2021, stopping four Strasbourg shots on Saturday.
The match's only tally came from Lyon-born midfielder Gaetan Perrin, his first of the season, as Lassine Sinayoko picked up the assist on that play.
Nuno da Costa and Mathias Autret scored five minutes apart, enabling AJA to reverse a 1-0 scoreline to win their previous road fixture, with Remy Dugimont collecting an assist.
Dugimont, Sinayoko, Quentin Bernard and Jubal are the only other Auxerre players who have set up a goal for them so far this season.
Theo Pellenard will be out long-term with an ACL sprain, their leading goalscorer in Ligue 2 last season, Gaetan Charbonnier has a sore shin, Julian Jeanvier has an ankle injury, while da Costa and M'baye Niang missed their match against Strasbourg with red card suspensions.
Lyon possible starting lineup:
Riou; Tagliafico, Lukeba, Mendes, Gusto; Tolisso, Lepenant, Faivre; Dembele, Lacazette, Tete
Auxerre possible starting lineup:
Costil; Joly, Jubal, Coeff, Boto; Toure; Perrin, Autret, M'Changama, Hein; Sinayoko
We say: Lyon 2-1 Auxerre
Look for Lyon to be in a foul mood following a sub-par performance over the weekend, as we anticipate their overall quality will step up on Wednesday against one of the early surprises of the top-flight campaign.
Auxerre have come a long way since losing their opening fixture, but they defend deep and rarely take chances going forward with fewer than 40% possession in three matches this season, and we do not believe they will be able to contain a Lyon side with so many attacking weapons over 90 minutes.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Joel Lefevre
