Cash in on the Rivalries in the French Ligue 1 This Week

One of the biggest news to come out of French club football this week is Neymar’s injury. For the third year in a row, the Brazilian has suffered an injury right after his birthday. PSG will now have to play their French Ligue 1 game this week without their maestro.

Theirs is just one of the 10 league games that will be played before the weekend (which will feature Round 24 of league games). Eight of the 10 games played in the previous round featured over 2,5 goals. In a league not notorious for plenty of goals being scored, this may kick-start a trend that may continue well into the month.

Only PSG have scored an average of two goals per game in the league. Having scored 57 goals in 22 games, they also boast the league’s best defense, conceding just 14 times. Nantes have lost four of their last five matches. They have also lost four of their last five games against PSG. Might as well just be a walk-over for the Paris outfit.

Second-place Marseille travel to face St. Etienne. The visitors are unbeaten in their last 14 games in all competitions. Against St. Etienne, they have remained unbeaten in their last three meetings, scoring twice in two of those games.

Rennes, in third place, will be looking to close the gap between them Marseille when they take on Lille. While Rennes have seven wins from their last nine, they will be wary of Lille and the history between them. Lille have only failed to score in two of their last 10 games. Furthermore, all of the last five meetings between both sides has ended with goals scored by both teams.

Toulouse have the worst defense in the league, conceding 47 goals in 22 games. They are winless in 12 Ligue 1 games and have only kept a clean sheet three times this season. Sitting at the bottom of the table, they take on 11^th place Strasbourg this week, a side struggling by its own standard too, having lost three of its last five games.

Only four points separate fifth-place Montpellier and 13^th place Monaco. Seventh-place Reims will take on eighth-place Nice, with both sides tied for points on the table. The game between Monaco and Angers is one between two sides separated on the log by just one point. Then there’s the game between Bordeaux (10^th with 30 points) and Brest (14^th with 28 points).