Lens vs Lyon Preview

Stade Bollaert-Delelis has been the one ground where Lens have struggled against Lyon lately. In the two home meetings in the last 5 they have taken a single point and failed to score, while all three of their wins in the fixture, one of them on penalties, came at Lyon. Friday night brings Lyon back to the north with the two clubs in very different positions. Lyon are unbeaten in Ligue 1, sitting second on 11 points from five games, and their two goals conceded is the best defensive record in the division, while their ten league goals is the joint-highest total alongside Strasbourg. Lens are 15th on four points, above the bottom three only on goal difference, and without a league win in their last four. Their results away from the league have been stronger, including a Champions League win away at Slavia Prague, but league points have been hard to come by. A home win would ease the pressure on the hosts; Lyon will be looking to keep pace with leaders Monaco and stay unbeaten in the league.

Lens have two wins, a draw and two defeats from their last five, and the split between competitions explains much of that. The most recent result was a 2-0 win away to St. Liege in a club friendly on 2 October. Their last league outing ended in a 2-1 defeat away to Monaco on 18 September, and five days earlier they drew 2-2 away at Le Mans. Three days before the Le Mans draw, they won 3-2 away to Slavia Prague in the Champions League league phase, while the oldest game in the run was a 1-0 home defeat to Lorient at Stade Bollaert-Delelis on 5 September. That adds up to eight goals scored and seven conceded, with both wins coming away from home and the only home game in the sample ending in defeat. In Ligue 1 alone, they have one point from those three games.

Lyon are unbeaten in five, with three wins and two draws, and they have conceded just three goals in that time. Their latest game was a 4-0 home win over Rennes on 19 September, the widest margin in either side’s run. Three days earlier they won 2-1 away to Anderlecht in the Europa League, and before that came a 0-0 draw away at Paris FC. A 3-1 home win over Auxerre and a 1-1 home draw with Le Havre complete the sample. Across the five, Lyon scored ten goals and kept two clean sheets, and they have not lost in any competition in the run. Three of the five came at home, where they scored eight and conceded twice, and the 0-0 at Paris FC is the only game in the 5 in which they failed to score.

Lens have the better of the recent meetings, winning three of the last five, one of them on penalties, against one win for Lyon, with the other game drawn. The most recent was a 4-0 Lens win away at Lyon in May 2026, and two months before that Lens went through in the Coupe de France after a 2-2 draw at Lyon, winning the shootout 5-4. Lens have come out on top in each of the last two meetings, but all three of their wins came away from home. At Stade Bollaert-Delelis, Lyon won 1-0 in August 2025 and the September 2024 meeting finished 0-0, so Lens have yet to score at home against Lyon in the sample.

Lyon are second on 11 points, two behind leaders Monaco, while Lens sit 15th on four, level with Troyes and above the bottom three only on goal difference. A win would take Lyon to 14 points, a point above Monaco as things stand.

In France the game is on Ligue1+, DAZN France and Molotov, while UK viewers can watch on Ligue1+ and Amazon Prime Video, and in the USA it’s on beIN SPORTS en Español, beIN SPORTS CONNECT and fuboTV. Elsewhere, DAZN has it in Germany, Spain, Belgium and Switzerland, Ligue1+ covers Italy, and Sport TV6 and Sport TV Multiscreen show it in Portugal. Canadian viewers can tune in on beIN SPORTS CONNECT Canada, fuboTV Canada and Fanatiz Canada.

Possible Lineups

Lens — Form

Lyon — Form

Head-to-Head

Where to Watch

Table

Ligue 1 Standings