For their second, and hopefully last, match behind closed doors, Lens hosted Reims at the Stade Bollaert.
With the international break coming up, Franck Haise reverted to what is probably his strongest line-up after fielding a slightly weaker side for their victory over Marseille. Gaël Kakuta, Jonathan Clauss and Kevin Danso all returned, pushing David Costa, Deiver Machado and Christopher Wooh to the bench. Rather than reverting to their usual 3-4-1-2 formation, Lens continued in the 3-4-3, with Kakuta to the left and Florian Sotoca to the right of Arnaud Kalimuendo.
Oscar Garcia made two changes to the team that beat Nantes, bringing in Hugo Ekitike and Alexis Flips in place of N’Dri Philippe Koffi and Andrew Gravillon as Reims shifted to a 4-3-3 shape.
Despite being a 4-3-3 on paper, Reims would rarely actually form this shape on the pitch. Mitchell van Bergen was tasked with keeping track of Clauss, often following him all the way back into defence so that Reims would be playing with a back five out of possession.
By doing this, Reims were leaving themselves outnumbered in attack, making it easy for Lens to play out using their back three. On the right, Ilan Kebbal would often pressure Facundo Medina while blocking the pass out to Przemyslaw Frankowski, however Van Bergen would be dragged away from doing this by Clauss on the opposite flank. Instead, Flips was the man tasked with moving up to deal with Jonathan Gradit, but he was also expected to keep tabs on Cheick Doucouré. Adding to this issue was Sotoca dropping back deep on the right to pick up the ball. With Clauss, Sotoca, Gradit and Doucouré all looking to work the ball forward down the right, Lens were able to outnumber Reims in this area, ensuring there was always someone free to play out.
When they were able to get back the ball, Reims weren’t particularly useful with it, generally sending it long and handing Lens back possession. This was partially because of a slightly adapted pressing scheme from Lens: Clauss would remain deeper on the right, but Frankowski would push up on the left to pressure Thomas Foket, while Medina would shift across to cover behind him, essentially pressing in a 4-2-4 shape.
Even when Frankowski was deeper, Kakuta and Sotoca would show greater responsibility for pressuring the full-backs than they usually would, starting central as usual to make it difficult for the opposition to play through the centre, but then pushing out towards the wings when Reims passed wide.
This combination of Lens outnumbering Reims on the right to play out and Reims going long when Lens pressured them meant Lens had the majority of possession, and thus the control over the match, pushing Reims back. However, they were struggling to actually break the away side down, with Van Bergen dropping back on the left creating a strong band of five for Reims around the box, leaving little space for Lens in attack.
This was until just before half-time, where a high foot from Ekitike at a corner saw him kick Danso in the face, earning himself a red card and Lens a penalty, that Kalimunedo duly converted.
At half-time, Garcia rearranged his team into a more permanent back five: Van Bergen was freed from his duty to follow Clauss, now a lone striker, however Flips was moved to right-back, with Kebbal switched from right to left in midfield as Reims set up in a 5-3-1.
It didn’t take Lens long to double their lead though. Reims lost the ball in midfield after Kebbal dummied the ball, only for it to run through to Clauss rather than Ghislain Konan. Clauss poked the ball through to Sotoca, who had space to run in behind Reims’ midfield and slide a through ball to Kalimuendo. Wout Faes stepped up to intercept the pass, but was nowhere near it, allowing Kalimuendo to run in behind and finish past Pedrag Rajkovic.
Two goals and a man down, Reims had little hope of a comeback, enabling Lens to see out the match and claim the three points.
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