Montpellier Have Scored Once in 690 Minutes of Football

A win against Nantes followed by a positive result in Montpellier would hand Le Havre a fantastic platform to avoid relegation and remain in Ligue 1.

In Montpellier they face a team handing out three points like penny sweets in France’s top flight, with supporters, players, and manager alike less than hopeful of avoiding Ligue 2 football next season. Sam Ingram analyses the state of play in Montpellier and picks out a selection for the upcoming clash on Sunday.

BETSiE projects that Montpellier will finish rock bottom, gaining 8.6 points from their final seven matches, despite returning nothing in their previous seven outings.

“I am Hurting and Ashamed. It’s Over”

Following the abandonment of the fixture versus Saint-Etienne, the team one place above Montpellier in the standings, Jean-Louis Gasset spoke of his side’s Ligue 1 status:

“Is it over for survival? Of course it is over. If the 18th-placed team faces the 17th-place team, with a five-point gap, and you don’t win that match… if we defend like that, it means that we don’t have the level to play in Ligue 1.”

At 0-2 down with an hour played, the referee called halt on proceedings in the fixture before the international break with supporters’ welfare at risk, with individuals throwing smoke bombs, fireworks, and burning objects in the stands.

Gasset went on to say “it is hard to live through, very hard. I haven’t done everything well and I put my heart into it. Maybe I’m a football has-been. I am hurting and ashamed. It’s over.”

Fast forward to Sunday just gone, and it was Auxerre’s turn to make it eight defeats (if counting the Saint-Etienne soon-to-be defeat) from eight for Montpellier. Ninety minutes later, at 1-0, Montpellier left the pitch having failed to score. They only registered one Shot on Target in the whole game, making it one goal scored in 690 minutes of football in Ligue 1.

Montpellier are a team on the slide and one that’s losing all hope at a rate of knots. With Ligue 1 salvation a million miles away in the rear view mirror, is this the time to back against them?

Should Montpellier Kick Off As Heavy Favourites?

A glance at the betting markets (Montpellier 2.30 vs 3.10 Le Havre) ahead of Sunday’s upcoming fixture will interest many. You’ll see that Le Havre arrive at Montpellier on a +0.25 Asian handicap, which means we’ll return half profits even if the away side leaves with a draw. Against a Montpellier team struggling to score or record a positive result, that feels generous.

Scoring goals is not something Le Havre have too many issues with: 11 of 12 matches in 2025 have seen Le Havre on the scoresheet. In the month of March they’ve hit the back of the net on four occasions away in Lens, twice in Lyon, and three times at home to Nantes on the weekend.

Now travelling to a Montpellier side lacking in the final third, a Le Havre outfit led by Andre Ayew, for those of you more familiar to the English game and the two Ghanaian brothers, can inflict even more misery on their weary hosts. If Le Havre scores in Montpellier then they’ve got a brilliant chance of winning considering Montpellier’s recent barren goalscoring stretch.

Frail defences

Montpellier’s back line is one of the frailest in the division this season: 49.98xGA after 27 games, just 0.69xGA more than Sunday’s visitors, Le Havre. At the other end, the two sides are almost identical again, with Montpellier (30.61xG) edging Le Havre (30.47xG) over the course of the season. 

However, if focusing on 2025, you’ll quickly see a steep drop off in output. Montpellier have scored just six goals since the turn of the year. Le Havre? 18. It’s that habit of finding the net that might tear the teams apart here, or at least allow Le Havre to vacate Montpellier with a point.

Quick question: should Montpellier kick off as -0.25AH favourites against any team in Ligue 1 right now?

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