Ligue 1 2025-2026: Nantes-Lyon, the likely lineups.

Nantes and Olympique Lyon will face each other Saturday night at 9:05 p.m. in the 21st round of Ligue1. The hosts need to win to move away from the red zone in the standings, Paulo Fonseca’s team, on the other hand, is doing great and is currently fourth.

Nantes comes to the challenge with an up-and-down performance. The yellow-green lineup has alternated good performances with lapses that have not allowed the team to permanently move away from the hot zone of the standings. In the last few days, the Canaries have shown a decent offensive phase, managing to find the goal with good regularity, but the defense remains one of the team’s most vulnerable points: as many as 12 goals have been conceded in the last five matches. Coach Ahmed Kantari can count on important recoveries for this match: Centonze and Coquelin have cleared their injuries and are summoned, first summons also for ex-Lecce Mohamed Kaba. 5-3-2 for Nantes: Lopes in goal, 5-man line with the recovered Centonze and Leroux on the flanks, Amian, Awaziem and Cozza central. In midfield, Coquelin will be low vertex with Cabella and Sissoko in the middle. The forwards will be Abline and Mostafa Mohamed.

Lyon, on the other hand, seems to be going through a growth phase after a complicated start to the season. The Paulo Fonseca-coached team has improved its offensive performance thanks to the quality of its more technical players and the greater solidity shown in recent weeks. The red and blue are distinguishing themselves above all for their great ability to create goal scoring chances: in fact, Les Gones have the fourth best attack in the competition accompanied by an excellent defensive phase. For this match, the Portuguese coach will have to deal with some defections between defense and attack: Fofana, Tagliafico, Nuamah and Tolisso will be unavailable due to injury. Lyon will line up with a 4-3-3: Greif will be in goal, shielded by the 4-man defense formed by Maitland-Niles and Abner wide with Mata and Niakhaté central. In the midfield will be Tessmann’former Venice man Tessmann with Nartey and Morton on his sides. The reborn Endrick will be deployed as a right winger with Moreira on the other side, both supporting Sulc’s only forward.

Probable lineups:
NANTES (5-3-2): Lopes; Centonze, Amian, Awaziem, Cozza, Leroux; Cabella, Coquelin, Sissoko; Abline, M. Mohamed. All. Kantari
LION (4-3-3): Greif; Maitland-Niles, Mata, M. Niakhaté, Abner; Morton, Tessmann, Nartey; Endrick, Sulc, A. Moreira. All. Fonseca