Troyes vs Rodez Prediction & Betting Tips (20 September)

Initially 17th in the ranking last year and relegated to Nationale 1, Estac benefited from the setbacks experienced by the Girondins de Bordeaux to maintain its place in the 2nd national level and have a 2nd chance to stay there. However, the task will not be easy for Stéphane Dumont and his men who got off to a very bad start this summer with defeats against Guingamp 4-0, Clermont 0-1 and Ajaccio 2-1. Last week, this Troyes team finally stopped the bleeding by taking their first point on the Bastia field 0-0. Insufficient, however, to escape the relegation zone.

If Troyes missed its start to the season, what can we say about that achieved by Rodez? Surprising 4th in the championship last year and eliminated in the play-off final by Saint-Etienne, Raf is completely missing the point since the restart. Proof of this is that he has not yet taken a single point during the first 4 days and he very logically finds himself having to bring up the rear in the rankings. Defeated before the international break by Ajaccio 1-0, Metz 1-3 and Dunkirk 1-0, the Avyeronnais were then dominated by Guingamp 1-2 last week.

Estac should show up for this meeting without starting central defender Monfray and the experienced De Préville who are affected by physical problems at the moment. To this we add that the excellent Thierno Baldé is still in the recovery phase and that he should not return to the field this weekend. Very far from panicking the scorers at the start of the season, Estac has only scored one goal in 4 games thanks to the precious Saïd who is struggling to pull his team up. We expect much better from the rookie Irié, and from the more experienced Ripart, M'Changama and Ba. Sidelined last week, Coehlo could miss this trip just like defender Ngouyamsa.

This should also be the case for young people Lipinski who is injured. Otherwise, the entire Ruthenian squad should be operational, starting with the only two scorers at the start of the season, midfielder Younoussa and Moroccan striker Bentayeb, author of an interesting performance against Guingamp rewarded with a goal. In any case, the squad was considerably weakened this summer with the departures of numerous executives such as Haag, Rajot, Danger, Corredor and Hountondji.