Against All Odds: Goals in Le Havre

1Mar 2013

Ligue 2

Le Havre entertain Chateauroux in the second tier of French football tonight and entertain is the operative word as Paul Robinson thinks we could be in for a number of goals.

Le Havre are ninth in the table after picking up 37 points from 26 fixtures. While they aren't challenging for promotion, they have improved upon last year's disappointing 15th placed finish and they got as far as the last 16 of the Coup de France. They do have to bounce back from three defeats in four in all competitions, but all of those losses were away from home and at Stade Océane they have been fairly impressive this term.

One thing that Erick Mombaerts' side need to get better at is defending. With 35 conceded in the league, they have conceded more than the likes of Niort, Clemont and Istres, who are all below them in the table. Le Havre haven't kept a clean sheet in any of their last four and nine of their last 13 have all gone over 2.5 goals. Even at home where they're relatively strong they have been shipping goals; three clean sheets from 13, with their last three scorelines reading - 2-2, 3-0 and 2-1.

Chateauroux are 12th in Ligue Two, despite losing just seven times this season. Too many draws has been the issue - 13 in total - although it should be noted that they haven't drawn any of their last half dozen. They've won three of their last five and those vital nine points have pushed them clear of the relegation zone.

As far as the goals go, Didier Tholot's men have netted 31 times this year, although only 10 of those have come on the road. La Berri are playing with more confidence at the moment however, and while they've lost five on the spin away from home, they netted three times at Lens in a 4-3 loss a fortnight ago and managed to score at Tours at the start of February.

Both of these sides have been amongst the goals lately and I'm taking that trend to continue given the current odds. Under 2.5 is just too short at around the 1.7 mark, and that's why I'm making it my lay of the day.