Saint Etienne v Auxerre Betting Tips [29 May 2022]

The promotion/relegation playoff in France is still balanced after a 1-1 draw in the first leg, pitting AJ Auxerre against Saint-Etienne. In the return leg, Saint-Etienne will play as hosts, having conceded a late equalizer to deny them the advantage. An early Zaydou Youssouf goal was cancelled out by Gaetan Perrin in the 86th minute, to set up a tricky return leg. Saint-Etienne go into this game winless in their last seven matches and without a clean sheet in the last 10 games. They have been so poor in defence, conceding 27 times in the last 10 games. Though they’ve failed to score in just one of their last 10 matches, their tally of 14 goals in that run leaves them on a negative. Saint-Etienne will want to strengthen defence and build on their attacking returns, for just this game. Their home run will also be an area of concern, having lost three of the last four, failed to keep a clean sheet in the last five and conceded two or more in three of the last four.

Auxerre have two clean sheets in their last five matches and have only failed to score in one of their last 19 matches. Though they play in the second tier, they aren’t pushovers, and they showed in their comeback in the first leg. Now they must do it over again away from home, with a place in Ligue the big prize. For a side that has gone unbeaten in the last 10 matches, there’s no bigger motivation needed. The 2-1 loss to Toulouse in mid-March remains Auxerre’s only defeat in 18 matches. As they head to this away game, their biggest concern will be in defence. They haven’t kept a clean sheet in the last six away matches, with both sides scoring. Auxerre will however be happy with the fact that in four of their last six away matches, they’ve scored two or more goals. In the last two playoff games, Auxerre have drawn; they had to eliminate Sochaux through post-match penalties following a 0-0 draw before the 1-1 result in the first leg of this tie.

These two sides are good in attack, but not smart in defence. While they have good runs in attack, they haven’t done so well defensively. Each side will want to win this in regular time, and we expect an end-to-end battle. With their scoring runs, we will back both teams to score here.