Will Lyon prevent another goal?
Recently, there has been a slight dip in form for the French hosts. Les Gones lost their last two league games against Nice (2-3) and Toulouse (1-2). However, that cannot deter us from our Lyon vs. FC Basel tip for the third matchday of the Europa League group stage.
In most of their matches this season, OL have impressed with a finely tuned defense based on excellent organization. Head coach Paulo Fonseca is returning to his old recipe for success in the Lyon vs. FC Basel prediction and can rely on his team’s home strength.
The French hosts have won their first two matches in the Europa League – both without conceding a goal. First, Les Gonens celebrated a 1-0 win against Utrecht, then a confident 2-0 victory in their clash with RB Salzburg. This extended Fonseca’s protégés’ unbeaten run in the Europa League group stage to seven games in a row.
Despite their minor slump and two consecutive defeats, the basic framework of last year’s Europa League quarter-finalists is still intact. Across all competitions, Lyon have celebrated seven competitive victories so far this season. Every single three points was achieved with a win without conceding a goal.
As a result, the Lyon vs. FC Basel odds offered by sports betting providers for “Lyon to win without conceding a goal” are surprisingly high.
Lyon – FC Basel Head-to-head record/H2H record
This is the first time these two clubs have faced each other in a competitive match. Basel has played eight European away games in France in its club history. The Bebbi have only returned victorious from one of these trips. FCB picked up points from two other attempts, while five appearances ended in defeat.
OL has had significantly fewer encounters with soccer clubs from Switzerland. Les Gonens won their only two encounters against Grasshoppers in the 2013-2014 Champions League qualifiers, both without conceding a goal (1-0, 1-0).
Lyon – FC Basel Tip
Only two teams have scored more expected goals than Olympique Lyon (4.25 xG) in the entire competition. The French side have consistently created high-quality chances and have averaged 0.16 xG/shot in finishing positions – the second-best figure among all Europa League participants.
The defensive statistics have been no less impressive. Lyon have conceded just 0.08 xGA/shot and are one of three remaining teams in the Europa League yet to concede a goal in the competition. Overall, Fonseca’s side have conceded 1.76 expected goals in two games (7th).
Basel surprised everyone on the last EL matchday with a home win against VfB Stuttgart (2-0) and then collected two more clean sheet wins in their domestic league (3-0 vs. Winterthur, 3-0 vs. Servette). However, these teams were nowhere near the level of Lyon.
In addition, the Red and Blues only averaged 0.09 expected goals per shot in their two Europa League games against Freiburg (1-2) and Stuttgart (2-0). In return, Ludovic Magnin’s team allowed the second-most opponent touches in their own box (69). This makes the betting odds between Lyon and FC Basel interesting, with the home side not conceding a goal.
