Angers v PSG Betting Tips: Les Scoïstes could surprise a few at Stade de France

France’s premier cup competition comes to a head on Saturday night as Angers and PSG face each other in the Coupe de France final at the iconic Stade de France.

Having failed to keep hold of their league title, PSG will be hoping to claim their second trophy of the season after winning the Coupe de la Ligue back at the start of April. On the other hand, Angers will be hoping to get their hands on a major trophy for the first time in their 98 year history.

As the team who’ve dominated French football over the last few years, before Monaco’s resurgence this season that is, PSG are unsurprisingly short in the betting at 1/6 with most firms, while Angers can be backed at a massive 22/1 to come out on top after 90 minutes. Given that this is a one-off cup final, there will no doubt be plenty of brave punters chancing the underdogs at such an appealing price and you certainly couldn’t blame them. After all, PSG haven’t been at their best this season, nor were they convincing in victory against Angers when the pair last met just over a month ago.

Although many punters will probably opt to take on the odds-on favourites by backing Angers at big odds, there are two other selections that really catch the eye. ‘Angers to Score Over 0.5 Goals’ and ‘Both Teams to Score’ look overpriced at 11/8 and 6/4 respectively and are both well worth supporting.

Stéphane Moulin’s side come into this fixture in good form having finished off what was a pleasing campaign with back-to-back 2-0 wins over both Montpellier and 3rd place finishers Nice. Such results should have filled the Pays de la Loire side with plenty of confidence and they aren’t likely to be holding back here, nor will they be disheartened by the fact that they lost both home and away to PSG during the regular season.

From an Angers perspective, If we were to disregard the result and focus on the performance of that most recent meeting with PSG, then there really is a number of reasons to be optimistic, especially from an attacking point of view. They may well have lost 0-2, but Angers dominated in terms of attacking intent, had a goal wrongly disallowed and had more shots, more shots on targets and more corners. Overall, Moulin’s men showed little fear by getting on the ball in dangerous areas and it’s thought that such a tactic should serve them well in this match. It really would be no surprise at all if they were to seriously threaten a PSG rearguard that hasn’t always been solid in recent times.

Of course, PSG have plenty going for them and they are worthy favourites, although whether they warrant the long odds-on price quoted is another matter altogether. However, for all their attacking strength, Unai Emery’s men have often been undone at the back, particularly by teams who like to hit quickly on the counter – a tactic that has served Angers well this season. Their recent 3-1 defeat away to Nice was a perfect illustration of just how easily this PSG side can come unstuck and their overall defensive record away from the comforts of home wasn’t too impressive during the regular season either. Compared to a keeping a clean sheet in 68% of their away matches on their way to claiming the title in the previous campaign, PSG managed to shutout their opposition in just 42% of their matches on the road this time around. Such stats don’t exactly suggest that the Parisians are impenetrable.

All things considered, despite PSG being hotly fancied to claim another trophy in convincing fashion, Angers, who have nothing to lose, are expected to cause the Ligue 1 big boys a few problems by registering on the score-sheet at least once.

Click here to read more tips for the various cup finals taking place this weekend.