Nice Secures Ligue 1 Status After Elye Wahi's Late Double Against Saint-Etienne

Nice guaranteed top-flight football for the 2026-27 Ligue 1 season with a 4-1 home win over Saint-Etienne in the second leg of their relegation play-off, overturning the pressure of a seven-match winless run at Allianz Riviera and making sure the club stayed in the division for a 25th straight campaign.

The tie had been finely balanced after a goalless first leg, but this return meeting brought a very different story. Nice created far more danger in attack, finally finding precision in the final third, while Saint-Etienne could not match the same clinical edge once the match moved into its decisive final stages.

Jonathan Clauss opened the scoring in the 61st minute, but the biggest impact came late from Elye Wahi. Introduced pressure moments saw Nice score three times in the last 11 minutes, with substitute Boudache striking before Wahi added two goals, turning a tense play-off into a clear victory for Claude Puel's side.

The breakthrough arrived when Saint-Etienne failed to clear a long throw into the area, the loose ball dropping kindly for Clauss. The wing-back met it with a fierce shot at Gautier Larsonneur’s near post, giving Nice a 1-0 lead and releasing some of the tension that had built across both legs.

Saint-Etienne briefly changed the mood 11 minutes from time. Antoine Mendy handled inside the box, and Zuriko Davitashvili converted the penalty to make it 1-1. However, Saint-Etienne’s joy was short-lived, as Nice immediately responded and then exploited the space that opened up when the visitors pushed forward searching for another goal.

Less than two minutes after the equaliser, Boudache curled a precise shot into the bottom-left corner from the edge of the box. Soon after, Wahi collected a pass from Tom Louchet and finished brilliantly, then struck again in stoppage time, racing clear on a counter-attack and delicately lifting the ball over Larsonneur.

Earlier in the match, Nice needed resilience. Saint-Etienne started strongly and Lucas Stassin later struck the woodwork nine minutes after half-time. Before that, Nice went close themselves when Mohamed-Ali Cho’s deflected effort found Wahi, whose sliding attempt hit the right post, while Larsonneur twice denied Dante and then Antoine Mendy before the interval.

Nice Ligue 1 data debrief and Wahi impact against Saint-Etienne

The numbers underlined Nice’s improvement in this play-off second leg. Nice produced an expected goals figure of 3.54 from 20 shots, while Saint-Etienne recorded 2.16 xG from 13 attempts. After the first-leg stalemate, this attacking display arrived at exactly the right moment for Puel’s team.

Wahi stood out across the ninety minutes despite some earlier missed chances. The forward registered team-high totals for shots, with eight, touches in the opposition box, with nine, and four big chances. Those contributions, combined with the late brace, were central to Nice’s 4-1 win and long-running presence in Ligue 1.