England

Lens in the Champions League hunt after Elye Wahi ends his goal drought

12-Feb-2024 13:24:16 | Guardian

Franck Haise’s side remain in contention for a seat at Europe’s top table after three consecutive wins in the league

While the trio of Brest, Monaco and Nice are still firmly in the driver’s seat for France’s Champions League allocation, another more familiar contender may be entering the frame if the recent results of Lens are anything to go by.

A comprehensive 3-1 home win over Strasbourg, their third in a row in the league, was impressive indeed, not only for how they expressed their solidity – as they had in previous wins over Nantes and Toulouse – but for their bravura performance in attack. In those previous wins Lens had kept clean sheets but there was something of the scrappy to their goals, and they seemed a far cry from the electric side that was consistently able to pour forward at will last year, running Paris Saint-Germain to within a point of the title.