This article presents a joint experimental and numerical analysis of a lean turbulent premixed methane-air flame stabilized by nanosecond repetitively pulsed discharges. In the experiments, the transient effects of the discharge on combustion are quantified by optical diagnostics to characterize their impact on flame stabilization. The flame shape is studied with OH* chemiluminescence imaging and the temperature is measured by optical emission spectroscopy. In parallel, Large Eddy Simulation (LES) of the turbulent premixed flame is conducted. Combustion chemistry is modeled by an analytically reduced mechanism whereas the plasma discharge is described by a semi-empirical model. The comparison between experiments and simulations validates the numerical methodology.