🏏 Sun, 20 Sep 2026 17:15 CEST
OGC Nice
vs
Lille OSC
3-4-2-1 vs 4-2-3-1
Substitutes
Substitutes
Match Preview
- Matchday 5 pits the two extremes of the Ligue 1 table against each other. Nice sit 18th and last on two points, still without a win after four games (two draws, two defeats), with just one goal scored and five conceded. Lille arrive fourth on 10 points, unbeaten with three wins and a draw and a goal difference of +5, three points behind leaders Monaco, who have 13 from five.
- Nice's scoring drought is the story of their season so far: one goal in four matches. At home they were held 0-0 by Lorient and 1-1 by Le Mans, while on the road they lost 3-0 at Paris FC and 1-0 at Auxerre. The front pairing of 23-year-old centre-forward Wahi, who scored 19 at Montpellier before a €35m move to Lens and spells at Marseille and Eintracht Frankfurt, and Algeria international Mohamed Amoura, who has 19 goals in 44 caps after breaking through at Union Saint-Gilloise, must find a way to finish.
- Lille have conceded only twice in four outings. The centre-back pairing is Alexsandro, the 189cm left-footed Brazilian who earned a first senior call-up under Carlo Ancelotti in 2025, and 23-year-old Belgian Nathan Ngoy, developed at Standard Liège before a spell at Anderlecht. Behind them stands Turkey international Berke Özer, a 1.90m goalkeeper whose command of crosses will be tested by Nice's wide deliveries.
- Leading the line for Lille is Japan's Ayase Ueda, who scored 22 goals to finish second in the Belgian scoring charts with Cercle Brugge before a club-record transfer to Feyenoord. The 28-year-old, a product of Hosei University and Kashima Antlers, will test a Nice back three featuring Egypt's Mohamed Abdelmonem, a former Al Ahly title winner with 35 caps and three goals, and Burundi international Ndayishimiye, with runs in behind and sharp movement inside the box.
- Left-back Romain Perraud faces one of his former clubs: he had two spells at Nice before the form at Brest that earned him a Ligue 1 team-of-the-season place, followed by moves to Southampton and Real Betis. The 28-year-old's left-footed crossing and willingness to overlap set up a direct duel down that flank with Nice's Jonathan Clauss, the 33-year-old former Lens team-of-the-season pick and Euro 2024 squad member.
- The midfield contrast is striking. Nice line up 37-year-old Axel Witsel, a Belgium centurion whose career has taken in Standard Liège, Benfica, Zenit, Borussia Dortmund and Atlético Madrid, next to 17-year-old academy graduate Djibril Coulibaly, a ball-winning central midfielder. Lille counter with captain Benjamin André, 36, a Coupe de France winner with Rennes in 2019, alongside Nabil Bentaleb, the Lille-born, Tottenham-schooled Algeria international whose left foot sets the tempo.
- The band behind Ueda is thoroughly international. Iceland's Hákon Arnar Haraldsson, 23, wears the No.10 after winning three straight Danish titles with FC Copenhagen and supplies the creativity. Ethan Mbappé, 19, brings PSG academy technique and left-footed ball retention from a central role, while 22-year-old Turkish attacker Başar Önal, schooled in the Netherlands with De Graafschap and NEC Nijmegen, offers mobility and dribbling on the flank.
- Lille's bench carries serious weight in Olivier Giroud. At 39, France's all-time leading scorer with 137 caps and a 2018 World Cup winner, with Arsenal, Chelsea, Milan and Los Angeles FC on his CV, he already holds Lille's record as their oldest goalscorer, set at 38. His 193cm presence is the obvious late option, alongside left-footed winger Dilane Bakwa, 24, who produced 12 goals and 19 assists in 71 games at Strasbourg.
- Nice have game-changers of their own in reserve. Morocco international Sofiane Diop, a Rennes academy product who arrived via Monaco, scored six times in 2025-26 and can play off the left or as a false nine thanks to his right-footed cut-ins. Sweden's Isak Jansson, signed for €10m from Rapid Vienna after a 33-game, nine-goal, six-assist campaign, is another attacking card for a side desperate to climb off the bottom.