After their gorgeous Champions League win over Arsenal, Lens wish to cap a memorable week with one other victory after they return to home obligation in France with a derby towards bitter native rivals Lille. Lens marked their first residence recreation in Europe’s elite membership competitors in over twenty years with an impressive comeback to beat much-fancied Arsenal 2-1 on Tuesday earlier than a raucous sell-out crowd of over 38,000. Hardly any of the Lens gamers had appeared within the Champions League earlier than this season and but they recovered from falling behind early on towards one in all England’s heavyweights to win with objectives from Adrien Thomasson and Elye Wahi.

“It was one of the most memorable matches of my time at Lens,” stated supervisor Franck Haise, who had restricted teaching expertise when he took over the staff in Ligue 2 simply three years in the past.

Last season he took them to second place in Ligue 1 behind champions Paris Saint-Germain, and their residence type was central to their success — they received 17 and drew one in all 19 video games at their imposing Stade Bollaert-Delelis.

The fervour that the staff generates among the many individuals of Lens and the encircling area is nearly distinctive in France and Haise credited the membership’s supporters with taking part in a central function towards Arsenal.

“The fans helped us go above and beyond and we did the same for them. When we have a symbiotic relationship like that it can make for a memorable night,” he stated.

The ambiance in Lens was not not like that in Newcastle a day later, when the house staff thrashed PSG 4-1 on a depressing night time for France’s dominant membership.

While PSG have been left to do extra soul-searching following a poor lead to Europe, Lens have given themselves an amazing likelihood of getting past the group stage.

Their matchwinner towards Arsenal was 20-year-old striker Wahi, signed for a club-record 35 million euros ($36.8m) from Montpellier in August.

Wahi was recruited to interchange final season’s prime scorer Lois Openda, who left for RB Leipzig.

Yet he and Lens each endured a tough begin — they took one level from their first 5 league video games earlier than a 1-1 draw at Sevilla of their Champions League opener offered a kickstart.

Wahi acquired his first Lens objective in final week’s 1-0 victory at Strasbourg and adopted that with a objective and an help towards Arsenal.

“He is progressing with every match and every training session. He is making great strides,” stated Haise, who described Wahi as “top class”.

Wahi, additionally a goal for West Ham United in the summertime, can endear himself much more to the Lens assist by scoring once more when Lille make the brief journey for the derby.

Player to look at: Kylian MbappePSG will look to bounce again from their midweek nightmare in Newcastle after they journey to Rennes, and Mbappe might be aiming to make a much bigger influence than he managed in that Champions League horror present.

The France celebrity endured a night to neglect in England as PSG suffered their heaviest European loss since an notorious 6-1 hammering in Barcelona in March 2017.

Mbappe stays PSG’s prime scorer this season with eight objectives however he has not discovered the web since coming off with an ankle damage towards Marseille two weeks in the past.

Key stats3 – Lens have recorded three straight victories in all competitions after failing to win any of their first six outings this season

8– Lyon are on a run of eight league video games with out successful. They haven’t gone 9 top-flight matches with out successful since 1992

4 – PSG’s defeat at Newcastle was the primary time that they had let in 4 objectives in a recreation since February 2020

Fixtures

Friday

Strasbourg v Nantes

Saturday

Metz v Nice (1500), Reims v Monaco

Sunday

Marseille v Le Havre, Brest v Toulouse, Lyon v Lorient, Montpellier v Clermont, Lens v Lille, Rennes v Paris Saint-Germain

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