Auxerre are another team that are staying in the league, not thanks to good play but only because their direct rivals’ pathetic performance. Auxerre rejuvenated the squad and their only aim is to survive this season. They spent the whole season in the bottom end of the standings but they were not in the relegation zone. A lot depends on Niculae, first scorer of the squad. They had plenty of problems in the attack, since he was the only solution, but they somehow managed to survive two rounds before the end. By the beginning of the second part of the season they have gone a month and a half without losing and solved the question of surviving. After that they continued playing weak, with clueless attack.
Last week Monaco ran over them. They almost didn't resist at all. It seems that Auxerre were aware that they have achieved their aim and that they can relax completely.
This weekend they will play without Traore and Genest but Sorin is back after a long break.
This season was more difficult for Lyon than the last ones. They had plenty of problems away, and participation in the Champions League caused many oscillations in their play. Good thing is that they signed another biog star this season, that is young Benzema. There is also Ben Arfa and the club will earn a lot of money on them in near future, unless they decide to keep them as the basis of the team in the next seasons.
For the first time Juninho was not in the focus, but this doesn’t mean that he had lesser influence on the play. Definitely the fact that the new leaders of the team are young, also contributed to the oscillations in the play. Still, whenever they had to win the match, they were mostly confident and done their job routinely.
Perrin again set up the play so as not to give the chance to their rivals to approach their net and it took them only one goal to win Nancy. They had inspired Coupet in front of the net who was perhaps the most responsible for such a result.
They will have to attack now, and they are up against the squad that can play relaxed since they have nothing to lose. The pressure is on their side but they showed that they can handle it.
There are no new injuries and they can count on complete line-up.
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