Auxerre – Saint-Etienne

Saint-Etienne will find it extremely difficult to win an away match against Auxerre

Auxerre face Saint-Etienne in the first leg of their playoff clash for the right to play in Ligue 1 next season. In the French league, the last remaining intrigue is which of these two teams will play in the top division in the 2022/23 season. Seeing Saint-Etienne among those who could end up in Ligue 2 is rather surprising. They managed to escape from their penultimate place in Ligue 1 in the last round with a 1-1 away draw with Nantes. The potential of this team is very good, so their torment this season is surprising. Saint-Etienne have good performers in attack and a generally balanced squad. However, their quality of play leaves a lot to be desired. Over the last 11 matches, Saint-Etienne have managed to win only once, and over the last six rounds they have picked up only two points. "The Greens concede quite a lot, but they try to play attacking football and create a lot of scoring chances. Saint-Etienne are clearly superior to Auxerre in terms of their performers, but the latter have been in good form and were one of the leaders in Ligue 2. Auxerre finished third, just one point short of qualifying directly for Ligue 1.First Auxerre knocked out Sochaux in a penalty shoot-out, confirming their right to play against the Ligue 1 team. Prior to the match against Sochaux, Auxerre had wins over Amiens (2-1), Le Havre (2-1) and Dunkirk (1-0). It has not lost since mid-March, when it lost to Ligue 1 leaders Toulouse. Auxerre have only failed to score in two games at home this season. One against Sochaux and the other against Ajaccio back in August. In all other encounters, Auxerre have invariably scored at least one goal. At the same time, by the standards of Ligue 2, Auxerre's defence can be considered fairly reliable, but it did not face an attack and performers of the level of Saint-Etienne. Therefore, we can expect goals from both teams.