In search of a reaction that puts him back in the elite squad of the French Championship, Nice faces this Sunday, December 10, the biggest surprise of the 2017/2018 season. Take Nantes at the stadium of la Beaujoire in Nantes. The duel is valid for the seventeenth round of Ligue 1 and has kick-off scheduled for 14h (Brasília time).

The recent performance of Nantes

Coached by veteran Italian coach Claudio Ranieri, responsible for one of the most surprising results in football history by winning the Premier League title with little Leicester, Nantes managed to upgrade to the French Championship.
With 27 points (eight wins, three draws and five losses), he is fifth in Ligue 1. This is the first position outside the continental tournament qualifying zone. This block is closed by Olympique de Marseille, which has five more points.
It signals that the club has bigger ambitions than simply staying away from the relegation zone. He managed to stay in the top squad even after a period of turmoil with four defeats in five games. In addition to jeopardizing his situation in Ligue 1, ended up being eliminated of Glass of the League of France.
This phase seems to have been overcome. In the fifteenth round, at home, the team overcame the favorite Monaco scoring 1 to 0. In the sequence visited St. Etienne and returned home with another point to tie by 1 to 1.
His home campaign has been even better in comparison to rivals. With 16 points (five wins, one draw and one defeat) accumulated in this situation, he appears as third best manager of the current season of the French Championship.
To face Nice, Ranieri has two likely injuries. Rene Krhin (five games in Ligue 1 2017/2018, no goal) and striker Kalifa Coulibay (four games without a goal) are undergoing injury treatment.

The current form of Nice

The current Nantes is a worsened version of what Nice was last season. In Ligue 1 2006/2017, the Riviera team made it to the top spot for a good part of the year with Monaco and Paris St-Germain and finished with an honorable third place, which earned them the right to compete in the continental tournament.
However, the limited resources ended up impeding a good performance in both. In the Europa League, the Nice managed to show the same strength that presented in the previous edition of the French Championship. He reached without problems the classification for the second phase of the tournament in group K, next to Lazio. On Thursday, December 7, he only met table in the sixth round against the Dutch of the Vitesse. Lost by 1 to 0.
In the French Championship, it scared the fans. He came to attend the relegation zone, but managed to react soon after getting the place in the Europa League. They won the last two matches against Toulouse (2-1, away) and Metz (3-1, home) to 12th place at the end of the sixteenth round. He accumulated 20 points (six wins, two draws and eight losses).
There is still little in the face of the potential shown by the team, which now has a slack in the schedule and can devote more time to local competitions. The Europa League will only be resumed in February next year.

History of the bouts between Nantes and Nice
Nice won at home (4-1) and drew away (1 to 1) in clashes involving the teams last season in Ligue 1.

Although it has good results in its domains, the Nantes can not present regularity in the pattern of performances. Nice also has swung very much. However, having the opportunity to focus on the French Championship dispute tends to present better results. Thus, it appears as a good option to guess for the duel this Sunday with a price of 3.70 in Rivalo. Draw has a return of 3,10 and success of Nantes pays 2.15 per invested real.