Toulouse v Rennes Betting Tips: Both teams can profit at Stadium Municipal

Following what will undoubtedly have been a disappointing draw at home last time out – conceded an equaliser inside stoppage time – Rennes travel to take on a Toulouse side who recently felt the full wrath of the new-look PSG on Saturday night. Both teams will be hoping to bounce back from what were ultimately poor results last time out.

With the sale of forward Martin Braithwaite, there will have been doubts over Toulouse’s ability to perform in the final third this season; however, Le Téfécé, having scored five goals in three matches, have started the season well in that respect. The departure of Braithwaite, a player who scored 11 Ligue 1 goals last season, obviously wasn’t ideal but the acquisitions of both Max Gradel (on loan from Bournemouth) and Corentin Jean from Monaco should help to fill the void. Similarly, Rennes have also started the season in adequate scoring form having scored four goals, scoring at least once in each of their opening three fixtures.

From a betting point of view, the way to play this one is ‘Both Teams to Score’. Based on what we’ve seen so far, a price of even-money, appears to underestimate this pair going forward and somewhat overestimate them defensively. Neither have looked great at the back and so it would be anything but a surprise if both had enough about them to get on the score-sheet.

They may have conceded a whopping six goals against the almighty PSG last time out, a game in which Neymar began to show just why the Parisian club was so keen to spend such an exorbitant fee to acquire his services, but Toulouse also carried an attacking threat of their own as they scored not once but twice. Scoring against the team who’re likely to be crowned as Champions come May meant that Pascal Dupraz’s men maintained their 100% scoring run having also found the net against both Montpellier and Monaco.

Going forward, it’s been a pleasing start for Toulouse, although you couldn’t really say the same about their performances at the other end of the pitch. Of course, what they do against the likes of PSG and Monaco isn’t likely to define their season but, nevertheless, conceding nine goals in two matches is a slight concern. They may have kept a clean sheet against Montpellier but that was probably more down to a lack of quality in the final third from their opponents than anything else. It’s fair to say that going forward, this Toulouse side carry a threat and they’ll certainly fancy their chances of scoring goals against a Rennes team who’re yet to keep a clean sheet; however, keeping them out could prove to be problematic yet again.

Much like the hosts, Rennes have started this season in good attacking form having scored in each of their three matches, but they’ve struggled defensively and, as mentioned above, come into this match having failed to keep a clean sheet in any of their opening three fixtures. Christian Gourcuff’s side have played some promising football in each of their matches so far this season and it would appear as though they have the attacking quality to score a few more goals this season having scored just 36 goals during the last campaign. However, what we’ve seen so far also suggests that they’re going to experience problems defensively. Gourcuff’s side were unable to keep out newly promoted Troyes on the opening day before conceding twice against Lyon in their first home match. Most disappointingly, despite being 2-0 up against a defensively-weak Dijon side last time out, Rennes’ soft under-belly came into play once more as they conceded twice in the second half. With this in mind, although they can certainly cause a few problems for the hosts, it’s difficult to see the visitors keeping out a Toulouse side who’re also looking to maintain a 100% scoring record.

All things considered, with both teams finding the net in five of this pair’s combined six league matches so far, a price of even-money is simply too good to miss. ‘Both Teams to Score’ is definitely the way to go in Toulouse on Saturday night.

More Ligue 1 tips can be found here.