Sports Mole previews Thursday's Europa League clash between Lyon and Basel, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Lyon can maintain their place in the top eight of the Europa League with a victory on Thursday against Basel at Groupama Stadium in the first meeting between the two sides.
A 2-0 win over Red Bull Salzburg has the French sitting fifth in the table with a perfect record after two matchdays, three points above Basel who defeated Stuttgart 2-0 the last time out.
Match preview
The early success of Olympique Lyonnais both domestically and in Europe has stemmed from this team's organisational structure, particularly on the back end.
They are one of three teams that have yet to concede in this phase of the tournament and Lyon are unbeaten in seven successive League Phase affairs.
On Thursday they can begin a Europa League group stage with three wins for the first time since the 2021-22 campaign when they went unbeaten in that phase, winning five of their opening six games.
Coming into this match Paulo Fonseca's men are struggling just a little, having lost their last two domestic affairs by a single goal, suffering a 3-2 defeat at Nice over the weekend.
OL are in danger of losing consecutive competitive affairs at Groupama Stadium on Thursday for the first time all season, after Toulouse scored twice in the final five minutes plus stoppage time to beat them 2-1 in Ligue 1 earlier this month.
This upcoming fixture will only be the third time they face a club from Switzerland on the European stage with Les Gones claiming a pair of 1-0 triumphs versus Grasshoppers during the 2013 Champions League qualification stage.
A strong start and finish on matchday two got Basel's Europa League campaign back on track, as they scored three minutes into that contest and put it away six minutes before the 90.
Another triumph on matchday three would mark their first away victory in Europe since the 2023 Europa Conference League semi-finals at Fiorentina (2-1) and the first time they win consecutive European games since 2022.
Ludovic Magnin's team are currently riding a three-match winning run across all competitions, outscoring those three opponents by a combined margin of 8-0 over that span.
The reigning Swiss Super League champions have lost their last two Europa League group outings away from home, without a single goal scored on both of those occasions, losing 2-1 at Freiburg on matchday one.
Basel have gone on to win eight successive matches across all competitions when netting multiple times but have not done that as the visitors in a Europa League affair since March 2020 (3-0 win at Eintracht Frankfurt).
Bebbi have claimed just one away triumph in Europe in France, winning a memorable 2023 Europa Conference League quarter-final outing at Nice in extra-time (2-1).
Lyon Europa League form:
W
W
Lyon form (all competitions):
W
W
W
W
L
L
Basel Europa League form:
L
W
Basel form (all competitions):
W
L
L
W
W
W
Team News
Lyon will be without Orel Mangala and Ernest Nuamah on Thursday as they are both dealing with cruciate ligament injuries and Remy Descamps is nursing a sore wrist.
Martin Satriano and Ruben Kluivert scored in their triumph at home to Salzburg on matchday two, while Dominik Greif has yet to concede in this tournament, making five stops for a clean sheet the last time out.
Two Basel players will be questionable for this one as Finn van Breemen has a fitness issue, while Japanese defender Keigo Tsunemoto is currently dealing with a muscle strain.
Albian Ajeti gave them the perfect start against Stuttgart scoring in the opening few minutes, former Lyon attacking midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri iced the game in the latter stages and Marwin Hitz made eight stops for a clean sheet.
Lyon possible starting lineup:
Greif; Kluivert, Mata, Niakhate, Tagliafico; De Carvalho, Morton; Karabec, Sulc, Fofana; Satriano
Basel possible starting lineup:
Hitz; Vouilloz, Daniluc, Adjetey, Schmid; Koindredi, Leroy; Soticek, Shaqiri, Otele; Ajeti
We say: Lyon 2-0 Basel
Despite their minor slump there seems to be a solid foundation in place at Lyon and we trust their confidence at home will be restored against a Swiss side that have not faced a team as well organised as OL in a while.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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