Nantes vs PSG: Ligue 1 Prediction (18.08.2025)

On August 18, 2025, at 01:45 WIB, in the first round of the French Championship, the match FC Nantes – Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) will take place. Bookmakers consider the visitors as the clear favorites. Let’s review the current form of both teams and give our prediction for the game.

Nantes

The Canaries did not perform well last season. The team risked relegation to the second division until the very last rounds. Only an improvement in results at the end of the campaign allowed them to finish in 13th place.

Overall, the squad looked weak compared to opponents from the upper half of the table, but they still managed single victories over Nice and Lille. In preseason, the Canaries were very poor, defeating only Laval from the second league, while losing their other four matches against Guingamp, Rennes, Angers, and Paris FC.

PSG

The Parisians enter the new season as champions of France, French Cup winners, Champions League winners, and Club World Cup finalists. If the Club World Cup format had not been changed, there is little doubt PSG would have claimed that trophy as well.

Luis Enrique has managed to build a very strong squad, which started functioning at full strength around the middle of last season. The team is well-balanced, strong both in positional play and on counterattacks.

This summer, Marco Asensio and Randal Kolo Muani returned from loan, while the club further strengthened with the signings of Lucas Chevalier and Illia Zabarnyi. With such status, PSG is obliged to begin the new league campaign with a victory — especially against a relatively modest side that cannot yet be considered even a solid mid-table team.

It is also worth noting that PSG comes into this match fresh off their UEFA Super Cup game, where they won another trophy on penalties.

Head-to-Head Statistics

In the last five meetings, the advantage is with PSG, who won three times. However, last season the Canaries proved to be very tricky opponents for the Parisians — both matches ended in draws.

Prediction

For the Nantes – PSG match, the prediction is in favor of the visitors. The Parisians are by far the strongest team in domestic football, and it makes little sense to bet against them when facing a side from the lower half of the table.

In this case, we recommend betting on PSG (-1 handicap) at odds of 1.54.