European Leagues / James Eastham / 17 September 2009 / Leave a comment

Five defeats from their opening five games have left Grenoble rooted to the foot of the Ligue 1 table - but you shouldn't expect their situation to improve this weekend, writes James Eastham. Meanwhile, two former Premier League faces continue to struggle to live up to expectations at St Etienne. Best bet: Rennes to win at Grenoble @ [2.24].

Recommended bets: Back Rennes to win at Grenoble @ 2.24; Auxerre +0.25 Asian handicap at St Etienne @ 2.12.

High-scoring games were the order of the day in the opening four weeks of the Ligue 1 season - but nine of last weekend's matchday 5 fixtures had under 2.5 goals, with an average of just 1.4 goals across the 10 games. I'd be wary of getting involved in the unders/overs markets while goal patterns remain so volatile.

St Etienne v Auxerre (Saturday, 6pm UK time)

Any Spurs fans wondering what happened to Damien Comolli should ask a St Etienne supporter, and then duck. The much-derided former Tottenham sporting director now performs the same role for les Verts, where he's received familiar levels of criticism for a perceived lack of forward planning in the transfer market.

Summer signings Augusto Fernandez (River Plate), Gonzalo Bergessio (San Lorenzo) and Boubacar Sanogo (Werder Bremen) all arrived in the final few days before the window shut, meaning St Etienne's starting XI is still a work in progress more than a month into the season. The club's chaotic start to 2009-10 has resulted in four defeats in their opening five games, putting Comolli and his beleaguered coach, Alain Perrin, under immense pressure before this match.

Auxerre got their first win of the season by beating Nice 2-0 last weekend, a game that marked Ireneusz Jelen's eagerly-anticipated comeback from a back injury that ruled him out of the opening four games of the campaign. The Poland international became a talismanic figure by scoring 14 goals in 26 Ligue 1 appearances last season, so his return is a huge psychological boost for team-mates and gives the side a skilled penalty-box recipient for their often excellent attacking build-up play.

Auxerre finished last season with six wins from seven games and will be confident of building on a win and a draw in their last two outings now that Jelen's back, while St Etienne have averaged only 1.1pts a game in 30 matches since Perrin took over last November.

A point appears the most St Etienne can genuinely hope for from this match, so consider laying the hosts at [2.1] or backing the draw at [3.2]. I think Jelen's pace on the break might nick the visitors a win, so Auxerre with a +0.25-goal Asian handicap start is my pick at [2.12].

Grenoble v Rennes (Saturday, 6pm)

Grenoble's position at the foot of Ligue 1 appears to confirm the veracity of the theory that the second season following promotion is the most difficult. Mecha Bazdarevic's side have lost their opening five games of 2009-10, a run I expect to see extended to six when they host a powerful Rennes side at Stade des Alpes on Saturday night.

Grenoble are a decent counter-attacking team, but have no Plan B, which makes them beatable against all but the very weakest opponents. Visitors who play aggressive, ambitious football while protecting their defence have an excellent chance of taking three points on Grenoble's turf, as Marseille (2-0) and Lens (2-1) have already shown this season.

Unbeaten in five games (two wins, three draws), Rennes have a starting line-up boasting six senior internationals (Fanni, Hansson, Mangane, Bocanegra, Bangoura, Gyan) and an excellent left-sided midfielder in the form of Sylvain Marveaux, who has made a remarkable recovery from the hamstring injury that sidelined him for nine months last season. Now 23, Marveaux scored the winner over St Etienne last weekend (1-0), and is fulfilling the promise that led to his former coach Patrick Papin to describe him recently as the the best youngster to emerge from Brittany's national youth training centre over the past decade, discounting the immensely gifted Yoann Gourcuff.

Rennes are [2.24], which equates to a 44% chance of winning the game. That price looks too big to me, so I'm happy to back the Brittany visitors. Correct-score punters ought to consider 0-1 [6.8] and 0-2 [11.5] scorelines.