This Saturday, the Gym travels to play against Reims as part of the 17th matchday of Ligue 1. The Aiglons want to continue their good start to the year 2025. All the pre-match info can be found here.
It’s the last match of the first half of the season for OGC Nice! The Gym kicks off the first of four away matches they have scheduled across all competitions in just over twenty days. The first leg of this long journey takes Franck Haise’s men to the Auguste-Delaune Stadium in Reims. The Aiglons want to continue their positive start to 2025, which began with a victory against Rennes (3-2) last weekend. Everything wasn’t perfect, but Sofiane Diop and his teammates will be able to build on that performance.
Last week, the Niçois had the best result of the weekend. Thanks to their victory, the Gym closed the gap with the top teams in the standings. Dante and his teammates are now just three points behind Monaco, who are in third place. The Aiglons have no other choice: they must win again this weekend to stay in touch with the Top 5. This is necessary, even though Nice’s recent away results are not outstanding (one win, three draws, and two losses in their last six away L1 matches).
The Nice infirmary is gradually clearing up
This is the good news for 2025! Little by little, the Nice infirmary is clearing up, week by week. Gradually, Franck Haise is getting back important members of his squad. Ali Abdi and Tom Louchet will return for this match. “Ali (Abdi) had a normal week and will be with us. Same with Tom (Louchet), even if we had to adapt his training week,” the Azurean coach stated this Thursday in a press conference. Meanwhile, Terem Moffi, Morgan Sanson, Victor Orakpo, and Jérémie Boga remain unavailable.
The same goes for Moïse Bombito. Already absent for the match against Rennes, the Canadian international is still not ready to return. Mohamed Ali-Cho is also uncertain. Having been ill for 48 hours, the Azurean winger might miss the match, according to his coach. Finally, Pablo Rosario is suspended. The Dutch midfielder received a red card in the last minutes against Rennes.
On the other side, Stade de Reims holds the 11th position in the Ligue 1 standings. Luka Elsner’s players are going through a difficult spell in the league, with no wins in their last five Ligue 1 matches. Due to injuries, Reda Khadra, Mohamed Daramy, Yaya Fofana, and Abdoul Koné will not play in this match. Finally, Reims’ captain Emmanuel Agbabou joined Wolverhampton this week.
Probable line-ups:
Reims: Diouf – Buta, Okumu, Kipré, Akieme – Koné, Atangana, Mutnesi (C) – Ito, Diakité, Nakamura
Nice: Bulka – Clauss, Ndayishimiye, Dante (C), Bard – Diop, Boudaoui, Ndombele – Bouanani – Guessand, Laborde
