OGC Nice vs Montpellier Prediction: At this point, trust no one!

The fans will be concerned about the reasons behind OGC Nice's rapid decline in the league. At the start of the season, they were top of the league and had the longest unbeaten run, but at the moment they are in 5th spot and they are without a win in their last 4 league games.

Montpellier are also struggling for consistency in the league and a win is needed sooner rather than later. Montpellier are ranked 16th on the table and they are just 3 points ahead of Metz FC in the relegation zone.

For both sides, it's the anguish not being able to be at their very best that drives them and they are both in dire need of redemption.

OGC Nice

OGC Nice have every right to feel miserable at the moment. The club went from being a revelation at the beginning of the season to a catastrophe towards the end. The fans will be demanding a serious change within the club to salvage what's left of their season.

After Nice’s victory over Montpellier in the Coup de France earlier last month, they've been on a terrible run that resulted in 3 defeats and 1 draw in league games. Their most recent game ended in a 2-1 defeat against Toulouse last weekend.

OGC Nice manager Francesco Farioli changed his set up against Toulouse after playing a 4-3-3 in the draw against Clermont Foot a week earlier. It was a desperate move for the manager who was hoping to put more bodies in the attack to get back to winning ways. However, his 3-4-2-1 system ended in a 2-1 defeat at the end and he might need to rethink his options once again. 

Stats at the end of the game showed Nice weren't far behind Toulouse in most areas of the game and the result was really bizarre. They had more possession (56%), registered more shots on target (6) and also created more chances (3) in the game. 

After the defeat, Francesco Farioli may need to focus his attention on fixing the morale within the team instead of the game plan ahead of the game against Montpellier.

Montpellier

Montpellier were thoroughly beaten by OGC Nice the last time they met at the Coup de France. And despite OGC Nice's current struggles, there's little confidence in the Montpellier team ahead of the game because of the struggles of the Montpellier team at the moment. Montpellier won just 1 of their last 7 matches in all competitions and that's a clear picture of the current state of things in the Montpellier team. With the relegation threat looking more real, Montpellier have just one choice and that is to turn things around now!

Montpellier played a 2-2 draw with Strasbourg last weekend. And even though it wasn't the result they desperately needed, they did a fantastic job picking up a point. Armaud Nordin was on target twice to save Montpellier from further embarrassment and rescue a point for them at the end of the game. At the end, Montpellier looked like the better side according to the stats of the game. They had 60% possession, 7 shots on target and 8 corner kicks. They also created 2 big chances and hit the woodwork once.

Michel Der Zakarian will be feeling gutted as to how his team managed not to win that game against Strasbourg after such a dominant display. His defense didn't help so much and he might have his eyes all over the defensive setup ahead of the trip to Nice. He deployed a 4-2-3-1 formation against Strasbourg and whether he intends to change the set up or the personnel ahead of this game is still unknown. But one thing is certain, he needs a good win against Nice.

Head to Head

According to the h2h, in the last 20 meetings between OGC Nice and Montpellier, OGC won 10 matches while Montpellier won 6 and 4 matches ended in a draw.

Analysis and Predictions

It's such a huge risk to place faith in either side. Although OGC Nice's decline has been quite shocking, you can't write them off right now when they are looking desperate for a win. Montpellier have a real shot here if they can produce the same performance as they did in the Strasbourg game.

According to the analysis of the h2h, OGC Nice are unbeaten in their last 6 meetings and there were less than 4.5 cards in 8 of their last 10 meetings.

• Montpellier to Play Over 3.5 Corners at 1.82 Odds
• Montpellier to Play Over 3.5 Corners at 1.82 Odds
• Under 2.5 Goals at 1.80 Odds