🏏 Sat, 12 Sep 2026 20:45 CEST
AJ Auxerre
vs
OGC Nice
3-4-3 vs 3-4-2-1
Substitutes
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Match Preview
- Both teams are still hunting a first win of the season. Auxerre are rock bottom in 18th on zero points after three straight defeats, and their goal difference of -7 is the worst in the division. Nice are only three places higher in 15th on two points from two draws and a defeat, and with leaders Monaco already on 10 points from four games, this is an early scrap at the foot of the table.
- Nice's attacking numbers are alarming: one goal in three matches. They opened with a goalless home draw against Lorient, were beaten 3-0 at Paris FC and were held 1-1 at home by Le Mans. The front line here pairs Algeria international Mohamed Amoura, a 170cm striker with 19 goals in 44 caps, with Wahi, who hit 19 in a season at Montpellier before a €35m move to Lens.
- Auxerre's problem sits at the other end: 11 goals conceded in three games, eight of them away from home in a 5-2 loss at Lens and a 3-1 defeat at Lyon. Their back three is Axel Tuanzebe, the 28-year-old Manchester United academy product who covers both centre-back and right-back, 192cm Congo international Christ Makosso, and left-footed Ivory Coast defender Clément Akpa.
- Gauthier Hein faces a former club. The 30-year-old right winger came through Metz's academy, spent a spell at Auxerre and then returned to Metz in 2024, where 12 goals and six assists in 2024-25 helped drive promotion. Standing just 170cm, he does his damage with left-footed delivery and is Nice's designated set-piece taker, which makes him the most obvious threat to an Auxerre defence leaking goals.
- The two midfields could hardly be more different in profile. Nice anchor theirs with 37-year-old Axel Witsel, a Belgium centurion whose career has taken in Standard Liège, Benfica, Zenit, Borussia Dortmund and Atlético Madrid. Beside him is 17-year-old academy graduate Djibril Coulibaly, born in 2008 — a 20-year age gap in the same central pairing.
- Auxerre go young in the centre with 22-year-old Kévin Danois and 21-year-old Belgian Arthur Piedfort. Danois, from Guadeloupe, came through the club's academy and turned professional in 2023, combining ball-winning with genuine passing quality. Piedfort, a 2005-born 186cm arrival from Westerlo, offers physical presence rather than creativity, so the balance between the two will shape Auxerre's control.
- With 3-4-3 meeting 3-4-2-1, the wing-backs will decide who owns the flanks. Auxerre use left-footed Norwegian Fredrik Oppegård, a PSV academy product known for his crossing, plus 171cm Clairefontaine graduate Lamine Sy, who covers ground relentlessly on the right. Nice counter down their own right with Jonathan Clauss, the 33-year-old who rose from the lower leagues to the France squad and featured at Euro 2024.
- There is a Senegalese goalkeeper in each net. Auxerre field the remarkable 204cm Mamadou Diop, who built his career in the French lower divisions and dominates aerially, while Nice have Yehvann Diouf, who made 101 Ligue 1 appearances for Reims before a €7m move in the summer of 2025. If the game turns on one moment, the contrast between Diop's reach and Diouf's shot-stopping reflexes could be decisive.
- Auxerre's front three is a cosmopolitan mix. England's Cameron Archer, a 2023 European Under-21 Championship winner who once moved to Southampton for £15m, leads the line, with 23-year-old Rémy Labeau Lascary, a Lens academy graduate with Brest experience, alongside him. On the left is Cameroon international Danny Namaso, who scored 22 for Porto B and added 14 goals and 10 assists for the first team.
- The benches offer genuine game-changers. Auxerre can call on Romain Faivre, the 28-year-old left-footed attacking midfielder whose form at Brest earned a €15m move to Lyon, plus Ivory Coast centre-back Sinaly Diomandé, who made 72 appearances for Lyon. Nice hold back Swedish winger Isak Jansson, a €10m signing from Rapid Wien with 9 goals and 6 assists last season, and Morocco's left-sided Sofiane Diop.