- Lens are in decent form at 59/100, however, Auxerre's odds are 21/5 and the draw is 3/1.
- Lens have had the better of Auxerre in the last 5 head-to-heads with 3 wins, 1 draw and 1 defeat.
- Auxerre's 4-3-3 setup is proactive, with aggressive pressing and fast vertical transitions.
An early-season cracker
Lens have been in mixed-to-strong form across all competitions with three wins, one draw and one defeat from their last five fixtures, including a 2-2 draw at home to Royal Charleroi SC, a 3-1 win at home to Villarreal CF and a 0-2 defeat at home to Sunderland.
They've been in similar shape to A.J. Auxerre in recent months, who have won two, drawn two and lost one of their last five, including a 1-1 home draw with ES Troyes AC and a vital 0-1 away win at SV Werder Bremen.
Auxerre have won and lost two and drawn two of their six away matches across all current competitions, scoring nine goals on the road.
Lens have won three and lost twice of their six home fixtures across all comps, but they've conceded eight goals in that time.
Auxerre's pressing style of play should suit them in this clash.
Lens and Auxerre will be an interesting tactical encounter on Saturday.
Thelonius Bair is a livewire for Auxerre.
Lens have the advantage
Les Sang et Or have the edge on paper here at 59/100, with Auxerre coming in at 21/5 and the draw 3/1, but we feel that both teams to score at 13/20 and over 2.5 goals at 31/50 looks the way to go in this encounter.
Dino Toppmöller is sticking with the 3-4-3 system and it remains a high intensity, forward-facing setup based on the width of the wing-backs, a controlled build-up and medium to high pressing structure.
Will Still has Auxerre playing a similar 4-3-3 setup, but they press higher up the pitch, transition quickly and play with a faster tempo than Lens.
That should make for a cracking game and Les Sang et Or will want to keep it controlled and structured, while Auxerre will want to force turnovers and hit them on the break.
Lens have had the edge in this matchup, winning 3 of the last 5 head-to-heads, but the form of both sides is similar and it looks like this could be a tight match, but we're backing Lens to nick it.
Thelonius Bair is a big threat for Les Icaunais and he has three of their seven goals in the last five matches, he can be the difference in this one and there's a lot of appeal in the both teams to score market given the nature of this encounter.
