Injuries have followed in almost every game. Against Paris Saint-Germain, just before the international break, Youssouf Ndayishimiye (initially hamstring but now a back issue) and Ali Abdi (ankle) were both forced off. Both are absent to face FC Nantes on Sunday. Mohamed-Ali Cho is also a doubt to make the trip to La Beaujoire. 

Laborde returns for Nice

Melvin Bard (knee) is already out; Sanson is yet to make his return; and Tanguy Ndombélé, who had been nursing a hip injury, will also miss the game against Nantes, as revealed by Franck Haise in a press conference, transcribed by France Bleu Azur. 

There is a piece of good news, however, as Gaetan Laborde returns following a significant two-month absence with a fractured metatarsal. 

GFFN | Luke Entwistle

On Sunday, the Nigeria national team were supposed to land in Benghazi but instead were diverted to Al Abraq, over 200 miles from their destination. When they arrived, they were locked in the airport without any food or water and were forced to spend the night on the floor of the airport’s departure lounge. 

Their captain, William Troost-Ekong posted on social media platform X, detailing the ordeal, which lasted over 20 hours. In light of the incident, Nigeria decided that they would boycott the game and would therefore return straight to Nigeria without kicking a ball.

Speaking to L’Équipe, FC Nantes’ Moses Simon (29) compared the situation in the Libyan airport to a hostage situation.

“We felt as though we were taken hostage. When we arrived, there was no one. We ended up saying that we would have to sleep there. The federation had, however, managed to find us a hotel but it was forbidden for the Nigerians! We stayed there, without a bed without food or water, in the middle of the mosquitos,” said Les Canaris’ forward. 

Simon added that everyone was “scared” about the situation. “When you see that they’re blocking the road, locking the doors in the airport, naturally you worry that something is going to happen to you,” he said. 

The Nigeria national team landed back home on Monday evening. Simon said he was “relieved” to have returned and said that there is no question of him being unavailable to face OGC Nice on Sunday. 

GFFN | Luke Entwistle

The France U21 international had struggled for game time last season after picking up a long-term injury while representing his national side.This kept him out of Pierre Sage’s plans at Lyon when the manager first arrived, while fresh recruits in the winter transfer window meant that there was no role for Lepenant once he returned to the team

At Nantes, it has been a very different story, with Antoine Kombouaré relying heavily on the loanee as one of his key players in a campaign start that sees the club sat in 10th place. Lepenant was able to display his skillset with an excellent assist to help give Nantes the 2-0 lead against AS Saint-Étienne albeit the game would end 2-2

The midfielder picked up the ball from a throw-in close to the Saint-Étienne goal, he twisted and turned losing his marker before darting along the by-line skipping past two challenges before delivering his pass to Sorba Thomas (25). 

It was an assist reminiscent of Karim Benzema (36) in Real Madrid’s 2017 Champions League victory over Atlético de Madrid in the semi-final, and social media was quick to spot this. However, in an interview with L’Équipe, Lepenant has laughed off the similarities. 

“I thought it was ironic. I’m not at all like Benzema, so it made me laugh,” the former SM Caen man explained. “But it’s true that it looks like [his goal against Atlético]. But there are so many guys who can dribble, I don’t know how many…Look at Rayan [Cherki] for example, he does it every match.” 

GFFN | Nick Hartland

Moses Simon had the first big chance of the game for the visitors after he escaped into a dangerous position, but Perri was able to close down the angle at his near post and deny the Nigerian. However, it would be Lyon that opened the scoring. Benrahma’s inswinging cross allowed Tagliafico to make a near post run and convert beyond Lafont. 

Nantes almost equalised through their captain Chirivella, who was unmarked at the back post, but a vital intervention saw Tagliafio block the shot and force a corner. Cherki then went close to scoring a second for Les Gones and one that could’ve been a contender for goal of the season. The 20-year-old beat two players with dancing feet before bending his shot goalwards but Lafont was equal to it. 

After an impressive display midweek, Fofana continued to cause problems and went close with an effort from a tight angle, which hit the post. Les Gones deservedly led 1-0 at the break. 

In the second half, Lyon continued to put sustained pressure on Lafont’s goal and were rewarded with a second goal. Tolisso’s dangerous cross was turned into the Nantes net by their own player as Nicolas Pallois couldn’t evade the low ball. Abline went close to finding Nantes a route back into the match, but Perri palmed his effort away from goal. Almost instantly, Nuamah went up the other end of the pitch and hit the post.  Mostafa Mohamed threatened late on but Perri was equal to his effort. 

Mikautadze almost scored his first goal for the club but Lafont denied his effort and Caqueret squandered a good opportunity on the rebound. This would be the last chance of the game with OL running out deserved winners and extending their winning run to 4 matches.  

Lyon player ratings: 

Lucas Perri: 7

Ainsley Maitland-Niles: 6 – The Englishman fought a tough battle with Moses Simon, but more often than not, the Nigerian international came out on top. Most of the visitors’ promising moments came down the Lyon right with the former Arsenal right-back regularly targeted but holding his own on a difficult afternoon winning more duels than any other player. 

Duje Ćaleta-Car: 6

Moussa Niakhaté: 6

Nicolás Tagliafico: 7 – In both boxes, the World Cup winner was largely influential. Scoring the opening goal, the defender showed great attacking awareness to make his run to the near post. In defence, the Argentine provided a couple of vital interventions and put in a solid all-round display.

Corentin Tolisso: 6

Jordan Veretout: 5

Saïd Benrahma: 7

Rayan Cherki: 7 – Continuing his good run of form, the 20-year-old provided another confident showing. Although there were no goal contributions, Cherki caused danger with his quick feet and choice of pass. On another day, the OL academy graduate could have scored a truly impressive brace. 

Malick Fofana: 6

Alexandre Lacazette: 5

GFFN | Liam Wraith

Surprisingly, Wilfried Zaha (31) and Gift Orban (22) have both been left out of the OL manager’s squad to face Les Canaris in Ligue 1. With such a luxury of riches when it comes to attacking options, the former Red Star coach has been forced to make some difficult selection decisions and that includes leaving big names out of his squad of available players.  

Since arriving on loan from Galatasaray,  Zaha has struggled to maintain a consistent place within the Les Gones team. On the hand of Orban, his performances have been impressive when given the opportunity so his exlcusion perhaps comes as more of a shock.  However, Cherki and Fofana have both been rather impressive in recent matches and dropping either of them would seem awfully harsh. Selection headaches look to be a problem for Sage for the foreseeable future. 

GFFN | Liam Wraith

For Sunday’s encounter, Clinton Mata and Nemanja Matić are both out. That means that it is highly likely that Jordan Veretout, Maxence Caqueret and Corentin Tolissio will all start for Lyon. As he did in the UEFA Europa League in midweek, Pierre Sage is expected to opt to start just one striker, and that will be Alexandre Lacazette. Georges Mikautadze and Gift Orban will likely both begin the encounter on the bench. 

Cherki is expected to start on the right with Malick Fofana, imperious against Rangers, to start on the left. Ernest Nuamah, the subject of criticism from his own manager pre-match, will likely have to settle for a place on the Lyon bench. 

Lyon likely lineup v Nantes

Lucas Perri; Nicolás Tagliafico, Moussa Niakhaté, Duje Caleta-Car, Ainsley Maitland-Niles; Corentin Tolisso, Maxence Caqueret, Jordan Veretout; Malick Fofana, Alexandre Lacazette, Rayan Cherki. (L’Éq)

GFFN | Luke Entwistle

As a Lyon loanee, Lepenant won’t be able to feature this Sunday with Nantes taking on Les Gones at the Groupama Stadium. “We knew from the start that we were going to keep him”, Kombouaré said this Friday. “We pushed until the last moment to have him play against his parent club, which will soon no longer be because there is a good chance that he will stay with us.” Lepenant’s purchase option reportedly rises to €2.5m. The 21-year-old is therefore expected to sign a four-year deal with Nantes.

GFFN | Bastien Cheval

According to a report by Ouest-France, the centre-back who conceded a penalty in Nantes’ 2-2 draw against AS Saint-Étienne allowing the visitors to equalise (only a week after he gave away a penalty in the 1-1 draw against Angers SCO) did not respond well to the coach’s criticism following the game. 

The French outlet writes that Castelletto responded inappropriately to Kombouaré. The centre-back has since apologised in front of his teammates for his actions. However, he will train all week in the reserves and likely miss the weekend’s fixture against Olympique Lyonnais, in order to play for the reserves in their game with Panazol. 

This is not the first time this season that a Nantes player has been sanctioned and sent to the reserves by Kombouaré. Marcus Coco was reportedly late for training and was given a similar punishment to Castelletto. 

GFFN | Nick Hartland

Sala tragically died in 2019 in a plane crash off the coast of Guernsey while he was en route from Nantes to Cardiff. The Argentine had signed a contract which finalised his move to the Welsh club two days before travelling. Cardiff had challenged the legality of this contract before FIFA and CAS but had their claims dismissed. 

L’Équipe alleges that McKay invoiced the club about his commission two years ago, with the agent having previously agreed to an “exclusive mandate” with Nantes’ chairman Waldemar Kita for the sale of the player – this mandate ran from the 21st of November 2018 until the 2nd of February 2019. 

The total amount that was allegedly requested by McKay was €1.785 million which corresponds to about 10% of the €17 million transfer fee that was agreed upon at the time. The French outlet claims that Nantes had no legal recourse to oppose paying the commission, but they did delay payment until after they were certain they had received the final of their three instalments from Cardiff. 

The paper further claims that Nantes did not pay McKay the €85,000 he allegedly requested as a late fee. Nantes did not respond to L’Équipe’s request for comment, while McKay’s legal representative told the French paper that they were unable to help with their request. 

GFFN | Nick Hartland

In their 1-1 draw with Angers, FC Nantes striker Moses Simon (29) picked up his 150th cap in Ligue 1, setting up his side’s only goal scored by Johann Lepenant.

That assist was his 29th for the club, making Simon the top contributor for Les Canaris in that department, breaking the record previously held by Emiliano Sala.

Simon has spent his entire Ligue 1 career with La Maison Jaune, originally coming on loan from Spanish side Levante in 2019 before moving permanently to the Atlantic coast.

 The Nigerian helped Les Canaris win the Coupe de France during the 2021-22 campaign. On Tuesday, the official Ligue 1 X (formerly Twitter) account celebrated Simon’s achievement, calling him “Indispensable.”

In his Ligue 1 career, he’s netted 27 goals and 29 assists at Nantes, who are currently fifth in the table after five matchdays.

Simon has made the fifth-most appearances in Ligue 1 among Nigerian players behind Victor Ikpeba (170), Taye Taiwo (191), Wilson Oruma (196) and John Utaka (239).

At the moment, Simon is Nantes’ leading goalscorer domestically this season, with two goals and two assists and was named their Player of the Month for August. He remains under contract with Nantes until 2026.

GFFN | Joel Lefevre