French Ligue 1 Predictions, Picks and Odds for Saturday September 1-3

Betting Preview for French Ligue 1 September 1-3

WagerTalk French Ligue 1 handicapper Kevin Dolan presents his French Ligue 1 September 1-3 predictions and picks around key matches including Nantes vs Marseille and Lyon vs PSG. Which teams is he looking to pick up points and which will have goal scoring? Read his betting preview now!

Nantes vs Marseille | Friday September 1 | 3:00pm ET

Nantes -140 | Marseille +370 | Draw +295

Nantes host Marseille on Friday night over at the Stade de la Beaujoire with the home side desperately needing a result after two losses from their opening three games.

Perhaps the most frustrating result of all of those three games was Nantes’ recent home draw against Monaco, a game in which the Canaries raced into a 2-0 lead early in that game, including being 3-1 up at the start of the second half as well, only for Monaco to come back late and hand Nantes their third winless result of the season.

Marseille meanwhile have started off the year in some excellent form, winning two of their opening three games to date, with a 2-2 draw against Metz the only blemish on their record so far.

New manager Marcelino has proved a tough taskmaster for the Marseille players also, stating every place in the team is now up for grabs should the players not give 100% in every game.

Going back to last season, Marseille have scored in 13 of their last 15 road games in Ligue 1, with 10 of those 13 games seeing Marseille score at least twice as well.

Nantes meanwhile have scored in all of their last three Ligue 1 home matchups, including netting three times against Monaco last time out also.

While we have seen this series gravitate towards lower-scoring games over recent years, we only need to go back to 2017 & 2018 to witness this fixture see at least 5 goals per game on average, and that could well be the case once again on Friday down in Nantes.

Prediction: Both Teams to Score – Yes (-140)

Monaco vs Lens | Saturday September 2 | 3:00pm ET

Monaco +110 | Lens +230 | Draw +280

Last year’s runners-up Lens certainly haven’t got off to the best of starts this season, sitting with just one point after two defeats from their opening three games.

To be fair to Lens however, they’ve rode some rough luck over their first couple of starts, giving up two penalties in their opening road game against Brest, giving up yet another penalty to draw against a very good Rennes side as well, and then losing 3-1 away to PSG last time out, a result that is always on the cards when you’re taking on the league champions.

Monaco meanwhile have been at the other end of the spectrum, coming off an undefeated start to the season that has seen them generate seven points from three games to open up the year, including scoring an average of 3.33 GPG across those three starts as well.

On the surface, Lens look like decent value here considering their pedigree and how unlucky they’ve been to start the season, but that’s precisely why we’re leaning more towards fading them this weekend on the road against this red-hot Monaco side who are in some absolutely ruthless form right now.

That combination of Minamino and Ben Yedder up front for Les Monegasques looks to be paying some serious dividends to start the season and we simply can’t step in front of them at home this weekend against Lens.

Take Monaco for the win on Saturday.

Prediction: Monaco ML (+110)

Lyon vs PSG | Sunday September 3 | 2:45pm ET

Lyon -190 | PSG +440 | Draw +385

It’s a three way battle to lock in Europa League football next season with just one point currently separating Lille, Rennes, and Monaco in the league table ahead of Saturday’s final matchday in French Ligue 1.

Monaco are the ones who find themselves on the outside looking in right now so will need a positive result in this game and hope either Lille or Rennes slip up in their respective matchups this weekend as well.

However, that will be easier said than done as Monaco’s home form this season continues to haunt them, winning just nine times at home all season, along with just two of their last six games inside the Stade Louis II as well.

Toulouse meanwhile find themselves safely in midtable heading into the final matchday of the season, but have proven hard to beat despite this, losing just one over their last seven matchups overall, and ended up covering this line against one of Europe’s hottest teams in Lens in that one sole loss earlier this month as well.

Defensively, Monaco just haven’t been good enough at the back this season, especially at home, where they’ve given up 13.2 shots per game to opponents on average, tied for the 4th worst mark in the league overall, and have covered this line in just one of their last three head-to-head meetings against Toulouse in this venue as well.

We’re happy to take a piece of the road team in this one catching a big head start on Saturday down in the principality.

Prediction: Toulouse +1.25 (-105)