Saint Etienne v Rodez: Ligue 1 Play-off Preview, Predicted Line-ups and Prediction
Saint Etienne host Rodez at a sold-out Geoffroy-Guichard on Friday night with Ligue 1 football at stake. Philippe Montanier's side must win to stay alive.
227 published previews across every competition we cover.
Every preview we publish lands here, with the scoreline we committed to and, once the match has been played, whether that call came in.
Predictions are written by the editorial team rather than generated from a feed, and each one carries the byline of the writer who made the call and the date it was published.
The tip sits separately from the scoreline, with the market named and the price recorded as it stood at the time of writing.
Saint Etienne host Rodez at a sold-out Geoffroy-Guichard on Friday night with Ligue 1 football at stake. Philippe Montanier's side must win to stay alive.
Salford City take a 2-1 first-leg lead into Friday's decider at the Peninsula Stadium. Karl Robinson's side need only a draw to reach Wembley, but Grimsby arrive fuelled by controversy and a burning belief they can turn this tie around.
The scoreline is the writer's view of the most likely result, and it is printed in bold at the foot of the preview so there is no ambiguity about what we actually think.
The reasoning above it is the part worth reading, because a scoreline on its own tells you what someone concluded without telling you why, and the why is what lets you disagree with it intelligently.
Where the data and the eye test point in opposite directions, the piece says so rather than quietly splitting the difference between them.
Form is read over the last five league outings, with cup ties and internationals weighted separately so a rotated midweek team sheet does not distort a side's league rhythm.
Standings, expected goals trends and home and away splits come into a preview whenever they are relevant to the question the writer is answering, and are left out when they are not.
How we predict sets out the process in full.
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A record that only surfaces the winners is worthless, and publishing the misses alongside the hits is the only version of this that means anything.
Previews are published ahead of the fixture and updated when confirmed team news arrives, which for most matches means about an hour before kick off.
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