Ligue 1 Tips: Back Lyon and Marseille for an away-day weekend profit

• Nice to return to winning ways

• In-form Lacazette to inspire Lyon success

• Back Marseille to make it three wins in a row

Nice vs Le Havre - Sat, 18:00

Nice are the stronger of these two sides and should collect all three points on Saturday evening.

Franck Haise's hosts lost 4-1 at Lyon last weekend but the final scoreline was harsh and the Nice players will be champing at the bit to put things right.

They head into this game with injury problems - veteran centre-back Dante is ruled out, for example - but there's still enough quality in the home ranks to ensure they secure the win.

For Nice, Evann Guessand has developed into an excellent striker this season, while Jeremie Boga and Mohamed-Ali Cho are terrific supporting attackers in the wide positions. When fit, former Tottenham midfielder Tanguy Ndombele has shown flashes of class on the ball, and he has a good oppoturnity to showcase those skills this weekend.

Le Havre were our 9/43.25 pre-season tips for relegation and so far we've seen nothing to change our minds. They currently sit 16th out of 18 teams in the Ligue 1 standings, and are just four points above bottom spot. With nine defeats from 13 games played, they travel to Nice deservedly as rank outsiders.

Understandably, Nice are short odds-on to win (1.635/8). So instead, we prefer backing Nice on the Asian Handicap. With our selection, you'll get your stakes back if Nice win by a single goal, and make a profit if Nice win by two or more goals.

Angers vs Lyon - Sat, 20:00

Lyon head into this game in tremendous form and are a strong selection to win.

Pierre Sage's players have won each of their last two matches by 4-1 scorelines and should be far too strong for limited hosts here.

The first of those two Lyon wins came vs Qarabag (away) in the Europa League last week. Lyon then followed up with a 4-1 (home) win in Ligue 1 vs Nice last weekend.

Alexandre Lacazette struck a hat-trick in the win over Nice, and the ex-Arsenal man is one of several outstanding Lyon attackers capable of shining this Saturday.

Georgia's Euro 2024 hero Georges Mikautadze will be dangerous, too (potentially off the bench), while Rayan Cherki and Malick Fofana are dangerous supporting players in the final third. Lacazette is 11/102.11 in the Anytime Goalscorer market, while Mikautadze is 13/102.30, Cherki 15/82.88, and Fofana 13/53.60.

It's impossible to make a case for Angers. As well as being one of Ligue 1's weakest sides, Angers are especially poor in front of their own fans: their W1-D1-L4 record at Stade Raymond Kopa is the division's worst home record.

Lyon are an understandably short 1.75/7 to win the game. Instead, we prefer them on the Asian Handicap. With our selection, you'll make a small profit if the visitors win the game by a single goal, and a bigger profit if they win by two or more goals. For a guide to how Asian Handicaps work, click here.

St Etienne vs Marseille - Sun, 19:45

Two of French football's most famous names go head-to-head on Sunday night and Marseille ought to emerge winners.

The visitors go into the game in excellent form thanks to consecutive impressive victories from their last two outings.

Two games ago Marseille produced a tremendous second-half performance to secure a 3-1 win at Lens. Last weekend they scored a late penalty to secure a potentially season-defining 2-1 home win over top-three rivals Monaco.

Thanks to those triumphs Roberto De Zerbi's players will head into this fixture confident they can win. And the gulf in class between the sides suggests something will have to go horribly wrong for Marseille to fail to get the three points.

St Etienne are 13 places and 13 points below Marseille in the Ligue 1 standings. Last weekend they lost 5-0 at Rennes. To make matters worse for St Etienne, Marseille happen to have the division's best away record (W6-D0-L1).

Marseille are odds-on to win (1.674/6) so, as with our Lyon pick above, we prefer backing the visitors on the Asian Handicap. With our selection, you'll make a small profit if the visitors win the game by a single goal, and a bigger profit if they win by two or more goals.

Now read our weekend Bundesliga tips here from Kevin Hatchard!