The clash involving Strasbourg and Lille closes this Thursday, January 25, the fourth phase of the French Cup in its 2017/2018 version. At the Meinau stadium in Strasbourg, the game is scheduled to start at 18h (Brasília time).
At this stage of the dispute, tournament regulations require definition in a single game. If there is no winner at the end of the regular time, a 30-minute extension will be made. If equality persists, the decision will be through penalty kicks.

Strasbourg’s recent performance

On Saturday, January 20, also in its stadium, Strasbourg interrupted a series of two defeats and beat Dijon, 3-2, in the twenty-second round of the French Championship. He then had 27 points (seven wins, six draws and nine losses). It occupies the tenth place in the classification.
A position in the first half of the standings table is above what could be expected from the team that rose this year to the elite division of French football. It is not, however, an irreversible situation. The difference with respect to Lille, which opens the relegation zone, is five points. The rival, eighteenth and first in the region of the sticking, so far has accumulated 22 points (six wins, four draws and 12 losses).
In the French Cup, Strasbourg had the right to debut in the third stage. At home, they were in the draw, by 1 to 1, also against Dijon. It took the best by making 2 to 1 in overtime.
To try to take a step further, coach Thierry Laurey has three medical doubts for Thursday’s game. The defender Ismael Aaneba (still without performances in the French Championship 2017/2018) is in process of recovery of injury; and socks Benjamin Corgnet (seven games, no goal) and Lucien Zohi (no performances).

Current form of Lille

At the moment, the French Cup is the least of Lille’s concerns. After starting the season with polemic Argentine coach Marcelo ‘El Loco’ Bielsa, the team dismissed the coach and undergo a process of tactical reformulation to try to avoid the fall for Ligue 2.
Now under the direction of Frenchman Christophe Galtier, he is having a hard time recovering. In the last two rounds, he was beaten 2-1 by Rennes at home and then took Troyes 1-0 away on Saturday, 20 January.
The situation, however, is not irreversible. The team has the same Angers score, which leads to the best and appears in the seventeenth position by getting the best in the tiebreaker criteria. Thus, this game against Strasbourg appears as less important than the next one, scheduled for Sunday, January 28, in Lille, for the twenty-third round of the French Championship. That may cause Galtier not to put all his major pieces on the pitch this Thursday.

History of the bouts between Strasbourg and Lille
There were 15 opportunities in which teams have come face to face throughout history. Lille have won five. Strasbourg won four times. The draws were recorded six times.

Although the five points that separate them in the classification of the French Championship show that there is not a great technical difference between them, the house factor added to the greater interest of Lille in the dispute of the Ligue 1 make Strasbourg the best option to guess in the duel of this Thursday by the Glass of France. The team appears with a price of 2.20 per real invested in Bet365 betting platform. Draw returns 3.40. Success visitor multiplies capital by 3.20. Quotations in effect at 15:57 on 22/1/2018.