Lille are a more than decent side these days. The French club have gone eight unbeaten in their domestic season, winning five and drawing three of their eight Ligue 1 matches. As a result, they sit in second place, trailing PSG on goal difference.
They opened the Europa League group by beating Sparta Prague 4-1 away from home. The Czech side had 10 men from the 23rd minute and equalised within a minute of Lille taking the lead. However, a strong second 45 sent Lille into an unassailable lead, courtesy of Yuzuf Yazici’s hat-trick.
Contrary to popular belief, Timo Weah didn’t feature in the squad for the Prague match and has only made four second half sub appearances in the league for Lille so far, though the French club did pay £9m to secure his services.
The test will be extremely tough. A win would probably turn everything around in terms of confidence, but it’s a very big ask.