Round four of the French championship: Auxerre will host Nice at home. Both teams started the season poorly. And while Auxerre's start was roughly as expected, Nice nevertheless should have to redeem themselves after the disastrous showing in the previous season. The club has solid resources and capabilities. However Nice continues to stumble and make a lot of mistakes. In the first round Nice at home failed to beat Lorient (0:0), then suffered a heavy defeat to Paris (0:3), and in the previous match shared points with Ligue 1 newcomer Le Mans (1:1). Nice had not faced very strong opponents, and two of the three were fighting for relegation, but the eaglets managed only a couple of points. A disheartening start to the season. And if Nice cannot beat Auxerre, managerial changes could follow immediately.

Auxerre, for its part, approached the season in a dismantled state. It was already valued as a relegation battler given the weak squad and lack of money. On top of that, the team clearly lacks discipline. Auxerre perhaps started worse than anyone in Ligue 1. In the first round they lost to Lens 2:5, then to Angers (1:3) and to Lyon (1:3). Auxerre concedes a lot, though it tries to play attacking football and scores in every match. It seems the team did not focus on the components that could bring it points.

One can expect this to be a game of mistakes. In the last four meetings Auxerre and Nice have consistently scored against each other. Last season they exchanged home wins.