AFC Bournemouth
AFC Bournemouth’s final pre-season friendly opponents Lyon won seven successive Ligue 1 titles, the last coming in 2007/08.
Third behind winners Paris Saint-Germain and runners-up Lille last season, they will compete in the group stages of the Champions League in 2019/20.
Nicknamed Les Gones, which translates as The Kids, Lyon have several players with Premier League experience, including Moussa Dembele (Fulham), Memphis Depay (Manchester United), Bertrand Traore (Chelsea) and Rafael (Manchester United).
Currently managed by former Arsenal defender and Brazil international Sylvinho, their former bosses include Gerard Houllier, Claude Puel, Jacques Santini and Raymond Domenech, who led France in the 2006 World Cup finals.
Ahead of the game, afcb.co.uk caught up with football writer Ian Holyman, who also produces the official Ligue 1 Podcast, to get the lowdown on Lyon.
afcb.co.uk: How has pre-season gone so far?
IH: It has been a bit of a mixed bag. They started with a loss against the Swiss team Servette (2-1) and were beaten 4-3 in a high-scoring game against Genoa before coming good against Arsenal in the Emirates Cup (2-1). But they suffered a 3-1 defeat against Liverpool in midweek.
It has been a typical pre-season and has been difficult to predict anything, especially with all the changes which have been made over the past couple of months.
afcb.co.uk: Which players have stood out in pre-season?
IH: It’s difficult to say because they have chopped and changed the teams so much.
If you take the Arsenal game, the two players who stood out were Memphis Depay and Moussa Dembele (pictured above).
Dembele arrived late for pre-season because he was with France under-21s at the European Championship in Italy. He didn’t play all that well there and didn’t start his Lyon career very well at the start of last season.
But, he really came on strongly in the second half of the season and looked very good indeed. He carried that form into the Arsenal game and scored both goals, assisted by Depay. If there’s one to watch then it’s Moussa Dembele.
afcb.co.uk: How has the new manager been received by supporters?
IH: Sylvinho doesn’t really have any coaching pedigree. He came to the club on the recommendation of the sporting director Juninho, not to be confused with the Juninho who played for Middlesbrough.
It’s very much an open question as to how well he does and it’s difficult to say from pre-season.
He has gone with a 4-3-3 formation and that looks like how they are going to play with Dembele, Depay and maybe the former Chelsea man Bertrand Traore up front.
He’s got a bit of a rebuilding task to do because they sold Ferland Mendy to Real Madrid and Tanguy NDombele to Spurs in the summer, both for massive fees.
Sylvinho has had to plug those gaps and Lyon have done that. They are a very well run club and highly professional, arguably the most professionally run club in France and certainly one of the most professionally run in Europe.
The jury is still very much out on Sylvinho. I think there’s no doubt he has the tools to do well in terms of the squad and the backing from the club and the fact he’s so strongly associated with Juninho, who is a massive fans’ favourite at Lyon. That will give him a lot more time than many other managers would have had.
afcb.co.uk: Give us a word on the new signings?
IH: Most of the traffic has been on the way out of Lyon, as it usually is. Nabil Fekir, who captained Lyon for most of last season, left for Real Betis.
They have bought Joachim Andersen (pictured above), a Danish centre-back, from Sampdoria. He looks very promising and is just the type of player Lyon go for.
Thiago Mendes is the replacement for Tanguy NDombele and was very good at Lille last season.
Jean Lucas is a Brazilian midfielder from Flamengo. I haven’t seen too much of him but he has come on the recommendation of Juninho and Sylvinho and that’s good enough for me.
Ciprian Tătărușanu, a Romanian goalkeeper, will provide excellent back up to first choice Anthony Lopes.
afcb.co.uk: What sort of team can we expect to see?
IH: A strong one. Lyon’s season starts the following Friday against Monaco so this is the last test.
Sylvinho may decide to throw a spanner in the works and go completely left field but I don’t he will because it’s so close to the start of the season.
I would say this team is pretty much a given – Lopes, Dubois, Andersen, Denayer, Marcal, Mendes, Tousart, Aouar, Traore, Depay, Dembele.
afcb.co.uk: Who is their rising star?
IH: Houssem Aouar (pictured above) is the latest product of the Lyon youth academy conveyor belt. It’s insane the amount of talent they have turned out.
Aouar is an artful, attacking midfielder who also rolls up his sleeves when required. He really impressed Pep Guardiola in the Champions League last season when Lyon took four points off Manchester City in the group stage last season. He was phenomenal.
afcb.co.uk: How many supporters do you think will attend?
IH: With the greatest respect, Bournemouth are not as big a draw as Arsenal and Liverpool so some fans will probably choose those two games ahead of this one and might not stay on for it.
They usually travel in their numbers and are very passionate fans but it’s difficult to predict how many there will be for a pre-season friendly.
afcb.co.uk: What are the realistic ambitions for the season?
IH: The problem with Lyon is they can be unpredictable. They have the squad to challenge Paris Saint-Germain, not necessarily pip them to the title but they should have finished second last season, not Lille. Lille performed fabulously, Lyon underperformed at times.
I hope they challenge PSG and they will certainly hope so too. It depends whether Sylvinho can get this ultra-talented squad to perform to their full potential in every single game and not just play the big Champions League games.
They are definitely a top-three finisher and should be top two with their potential. They won’t beat PSG over the course of the season.
You can follow Ian on Twitter – @ian_holyman
To listen to the official Ligue 1 Podcast, click here
