Matchday: Northern Derby Lens-Lille 09′ (Stade Félix Bollaert)

By: Xavier | September 20th, 2009

Always seen as the match of the year in northern France, the clasico in pas-de-Calais, if you will. This Sunday, September 20, 2009 will mark another special day in the history of Lens and Lille. And this particular clash comes in an interesting period for the both clubs as Lille finds itself at the bottom half of the table having picked up their first league victory last week against Sochaux.

Lille head man Rudy Garcia is hoping those results has finally gotten their season going and they can now push forward, starting today at their fierce northern rivals.

“We’re approaching our next match at Lens with the desire to continue our run started against Sochaux,” he said.

“If we want to get back into the top half of the table, we have to start by getting a good result at our neighbours.

“Because even above this desire to get a good run, we wish to recover on our travels those points we lost at home at the beginning of the season.

“We’re going to the Bollaert with that in our minds.”

Lens in the meantime are coming off their worst performance of the season at Montpellier. The ridiculous showing at the Stade de la Mosson last week produced a 1-0 defeat and prompted club President Gervais Martel to blast his club for what he considered at match “worthy of Ligue 2″.

Lens coach Jean-Guy Wallemme also slammed his players following the defeat and has called for an immediate response.

“If we want to be positive about it, we can say that we couldn’t have done worse,” he said.

“We have to also remind ourselves that, even if Montpellier won and are currently well placed in the table, it’s not as if we were up against a great team.

“We have a clear path in our minds. Lille will obviously try to prevent us but we will give try, with regards to the non-performance at Montpellier, to retain that lesson and do something positive.”

Look for a tough physical battle from both sides at the expense of technical brilliance.

Sebastien Roudet, Geoffrey Doumeng and Samuel Atrous are all still out injured. Kanga Akalé will be on the first team once again as he continues to progress towards his reintegration to the first team.

Le groupe Lensois: Kasraoui, Runje; Chelle, Hermach, Laurenti, Ramos, Sartre, Yahia; Akalé, Demont, Jemaa, Kovacevic, Milovanovic, Sow; Boukari, Eduardo, Maoulida, Monnet-Paquet.

Le groupe Lillois: Butelle, Mouko: Béria, Chedjou, Debuchy, Emerson, Vandam, Rami: Balmont, Cabaye, Dumont, Mavuba, Cabaye, Obraniak, Hazard: Vittek, L.Touré, Frau, Gervinho, E.Aubameyang

Viewing Options: The game will be shown on Setanta Sports. The channel is available through satellite subscription with Direct TV or Dish Network. Available in Europe through Canal Plus (subscription). Also available free to air through Hot Bird 8 satellite.

Streaming Option: http://www.myp2p.eu/broadcast.php?matchid=48805&part=sports