- 1 Auxerre vs Nice : Ligue 1’s worst defense meets Ligue 1’s worst attack
- 2 AJ Auxerre : three defeats and a defensive leak
- 3 OGC Nice : one goal in three rounds
- 4 Ligue 1 prediction Auxerre vs Nice
- 5 First, a word on our free predictions
- 6 No commitment from us
- 7 Information changes
- 8 Your role
- 9 Responsible gambling first
- 10 Legal age
- 11 About the images…
Auxerre vs Nice : Ligue 1’s worst defense meets Ligue 1’s worst attack 
AJ Auxerre have shipped 11 goals in three Ligue 1 matches. OGC Nice have scored just one in the same span.
Those two numbers pretty much write the headline for Saturday night. The Burgundy club sit bottom with zero points, while the Eagles are just above them on two.
Kick-off is set for Saturday 12 September at 20:45 at Stade de l’Abbe-Deschamps, in the fourth round of fixtures. Ligue 1+ is showing the game.
Auxerre are the only top-flight side still on zero points after three outings. Three defeats, no response in the table, and an early goal difference of minus seven.
Nice failed to score in their first two matches, a run of 180 minutes without a goal. The breakthrough finally came on matchday three, against Le Mans.
So this one pits two mirror-image problems against each other. On one side, a back line that concedes every week. On the other, an attack that cannot turn chances into anything useful.
Both clubs changed coach this summer, like 12 of the 18 teams in the division. Will Still has come in at Auxerre, Olivier Pantaloni at Nice.
That huge turnover on the touchline is one of the defining features of the 2026-2027 season. It helps explain the muddled start, with several fancied sides already looking a bit lost.
Last season’s hangover also hangs over Nice. They only kept their top-flight place via the play-off, against Saint-Etienne.
AJ Auxerre : three defeats and a defensive leak 
Auxerre have lost all three of their opening matches. They are the only Ligue 1 side in that position after three rounds.
The opening weekend set the tone with a 5-2 hammering at Bollaert-Delelis. Christ Makosso was sent off in the 35th minute, leaving his side down to 10 for more than an hour.
Florian Thauvin converted two penalties that night for RC Lens. The final score said plenty about the gap between the two teams.
The visit of Angers did nothing to steady them: a 3-1 defeat at Stade de l’Abbe-Deschamps, with three goals conceded at home. Stephane Gilli picked up his first win of the season with SCO.
Matchday three only reinforced the pattern, with a 3-1 loss in Lyon. Eleven goals conceded in three games, and nobody else in the division is anywhere near that total.
The pace is brutal: almost four goals conceded per game since the restart. No other top-flight club had gone past five goals conceded after two rounds.
The attack is not completely silent, though, with four goals in three matches. Auxerre’s problem is entirely at the back, where the structure falls apart every time they play.
Two at Lens, one against Angers, one in Lyon: the Burgundy side have scored in all three games. There is attacking potential there, but it means very little when the other end is such a mess.
Will Still, 33, is trying to rebuild defensive basics in the middle of the season. The visit of Nice is his first real chance to kick-start things.
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OGC Nice : one goal in three rounds 
Nice have scored one goal in three Ligue 1 matches. No other attack in the division has been this poor since the start of the campaign.
The Eagles opened with a 0-0 draw at home to Lorient. That stalemate kicked off a run of two matches without scoring.
The trip to Stade Jean-Bouin hurt badly: a 3-0 defeat to Paris FC on 30 August. Lassine Sinayoko opened the scoring from the spot in the 21st minute, Samir Chergui doubled the lead on 51 minutes and Vincent Marchetti wrapped it up in the 89th.
That remains Nice’s only real collapse of the season. It also helped launch Paris FC, who sat second after two rounds.
Matchday three brought a first goal and a second point, with a 1-1 draw against Le Mans. The attack has finally shown a pulse, but only just.
At the back, the numbers are far more manageable: four conceded in three matches. Nice are the only side near the bottom of the table with anything like a decent defensive record.
Three of those four goals came in the trip to Paris. In their two home matches, the club from the Riviera have conceded only once.
Olivier Pantaloni is also new to the job this season. He has inherited a side that is organised enough behind the ball, but wasteful up front and paying for it every week.
One goal in three games leaves a team scrapping for scraps. A trip to the league’s bottom club is the sort of chance Nice cannot afford to waste.
Expected Auxerre line-up: Not available at the time of publication.
Expected Nice line-up: Not available at the time of publication.
Ligue 1 prediction Auxerre vs Nice
Our prediction: double chance, draw or Nice win
Auxerre are the only Ligue 1 side without a point after three rounds, having conceded 11 goals. A team that leaks five at Lens, three against Angers and three in Lyon is not going to fix itself in a week.
Nice arrive with four goals conceded in three matches, roughly three times fewer than their hosts. That relative solidity is the only clearly measurable edge in this game.
The Angers result matters too. SCO left Stade de l’Abbe-Deschamps with a 3-1 win, which suggests this Auxerre defence can be breached even by modest attacks.
OGC Nice should leave Stade de l’Abbe-Deschamps with at least a point. Auxerre’s defensive damage is simply too heavy to back a first Burgundy win against a side that, at least, knows how to defend.
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