Montpellier play their first Ligue 1 game of the 2020/21 season on Saturday, as Rennes welcome Michel Der Zakarian’s men to Roazhon Park.
Rennes have already opened their account this term, kicking off the new campaign was a 1-1 draw against Lille last weekend.
However, it’s fair to say that Rennes deserved to win their season opener. Despite recording 16 shots to Lille’s five, Rennes were forced to settle for a point.
Both sides had a man sent off in the first half – Sacha Boey (Rennes) and Reinildo Mandava (Lille) both saw red – but Jonathan Bamba gave Lille the lead just before the break.
Rennes rallied in the second half, with Damien Da Silva equalising on 74 minutes. But the away side could only manage one goal.
After finishing third last season, Rennes secured Champions League football for the very first time in their history.
They ended the 2019/20 campaign in solid form, winning eight of their final ten home games, although there have been under 2.5 goals scored in ten of their previous 13 Ligue 1 outings.
On the other hand, Montpellier finished the previous season in eighth – level with seventh-place Lyon and ninth-place Monaco on 1.43 points per game.
However, they accumulated 40 points from 28 games last term, finishing just a single pint behind fifth-place Nice.
Interestingly, Montpellier’s last competitive game was against Rennes back in March. Rennes completed dominated Montpellier on that occasion, with Adrien Hunou netting a double in a crushing 5-0 win.
Since then, Montpellier have played four off-season friendly games, winning one, drawing two and losing the other.
It’s worth mentioning that Montpellier lost each of their final four away games last term and failed to score a single goal on their travels during that period.
Head-to-head: Rennes did the double over Montpellier last term, with the 5-0 victory coming after a 1-0 away win for Rennes.
Montpellier’s last victory in this fixture came all the way back in 2016. Since then, Rennes have claimed four wins and four draws.
Team news: Rennes have no injury concerns heading into their second game of the season, although Montpellier will be without goalkeeper Jonas Omlin, who has a hamstring issue.
When you couple Rennes head-to-head record in this fixture with their strong end to the 2019/20 campaign, all the signs point towards a comfortable home win here.
Forebet predicts that Rennes will keep a clean sheet while scoring over 1.5 goals on their way to victory on Saturday.
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