ASSE is going to Corsica and more precisely the upper part of the beauty island to parade the Sporting Clube de Bastia. The Greens are well placed in the race for the climb and must prove they have their say for the steep climb to confirm success against Auxerre. Here is the XI that Olivier Dell’Oglio should field in Bastia this evening.
Some absences to mourn
Hit against Auxerre, Denis Appiah will not feature in Corsica. The defender will miss six weeks of competition with a torn hamstring muscle in his left thigh. Lamine Fomba suffered a sprained ankle last week. He is still waiting to know how long he will be unavailable. Ibrahima Wadji is still in the rehabilitation phase. The Senegalese striker is working towards a return to mass training. Stephane Diarra is out for the rest of the season with a torn cruciate ligament. Knocked in the knee, Boubaker falls unavailable. Like Cheikh Fall, who suffered a sprained knee, he will be out for at least seven months.
Some changes at the back
Last Saturday’s man of the match against Auxerre, Gautier Larsonneur, will keep the ASSE cage early in the evening at Furiani. The goalkeeper was once again instrumental in making four saves against AJA, allowing him to keep his 14th clean sheet this season. His coach, Olivier Dell’Oglio, will have to field an unprecedented defense. A quartet that has never been put together since its arrival in Forez.
Forced to come off in the 30th minute against Auxerre, Denis Appiah will miss a month and a half of the competition. As a result, he will leave his right lane to Yvann Maçon. After coming into the game in place of the former Canary, Leo Petrot will get a starting spot on the left side of La Défense Stephanois. The former Lorient player has not started a match since the defeat in Dunkirk (0-1) and will be eager to find a starting place at the start of the final sprint. In the middle, we will get Dylan Batubincica and Mikel Nade like last week.
Change in the middle at ASSE!
Thomas Monconduit, holder during the previous two meetings, should start the match on the bench this evening, with Florian Terdieu taking the starting spot in place of the former Amiens player. The Estres-born player’s entry against Auxerre proved convincing for Olivier Dell’Oglio to hand him a starting spot once again.
For the other 2 ASSE environments, no changes are planned by ODO. Indeed, the staff will reassign Aïmen Moueffek. Returning from injury last Saturday, he played Amen Mouffek for 80 minutes. Very active until his release, the player trained at the club delivered a game full of intensity, which is his strength and which makes him an undisputed starter in the Saint-Etienne environment. The last midfielder will be Dylan Chambost. Author of a decent match against the leader, he could have opened the scoring on Mouffek’s serve. He made up for it with a brilliant pass for Matthew Caffero on Irwin Cardona’s goal.
Unchanged attack
As for the lone Saint-Etienne scorer last Saturday, Irwin Cardona will once again start on the right lane of the green attack. The former Brest player, named player of the month for February in Ligue 2, showed once again that he is in full possession of his means with his match against Angers. He is back under the command of the man who launched him into Ligue 1: Olivier Dell’Oglio.
Mathieu Caffero will be the left winger of the Saint-Etienne attack. The number 18 was once again restless in his side, leading to dangerous situations at the Auxerre goal on Saturday. Caffero shows that he is one of the best attacking players in this championship.
At the forefront, we will find Ibrahim Sissoko. The striker has gone two games without a goal since Sochaux. He will be eager to find the net again. There is a chance for him to move back to second place in the Ligue 2 scorer rankings.
Possible structure
On the bench: Lilo – Bentaygue – Briancon – Bouchouri – Monconduit – Mbuku – Rivera
