Lens and PSG Resume Ligue 1 Title Battle With Marseille Waiting To Pounce

Lens begins the year one point ahead of defending champion Paris Saint-Germain in what French fans hope will be a close title race in Ligue 1.

PSG won a record-extending 13th title by 19 points last term, losing its only two games of the campaign after the title was sealed, and by nine points the season before that.

But it promises to be closer this time, with PSG already losing twice and being held to three draws.

Led by the flair of goal-scoring winger Florian Thauvin, Lens opens the 17th round at Toulouse on Friday, while, on Sunday, PSG hosts Paris FC in the first intercity derby in the capital since 1990.

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Key Matchups

A slip-up from Lens or PSG may open the door for third-place Marseille, which hosts struggling Nantes on Sunday.

Mid-table Monaco hosts fifth-place Lyon on Saturday and desperately needs to find consistency after losing five of its past six league games.

Monaco’s only victory during that dismal spell came against PSG.

After ending a nine-game losing run with a win in the French Cup and then changing coaches, it’s time for Nice to start winning again in Ligue 1.

Nice sits 13th ahead of Saturday’s game against Strasbourg.

Tensions have been running high at Nice, which replaced struggling coach Franck Haise with Claude Puel, 64, who was previously in charge from 2012-16.

Players To Watch

Midfielder Pavel Šulc has made quite an impression for Lyon since joining from Czech club Jablonec in the offseason on a four-year contract.

Šulc has hit nine goals in 22 games overall.

Brazil striker Endrick hopes to be scoring plenty of goals for Lyon, too, after joining from Real Madrid on loan until the end of the season.

The 19-year-old Endrick has hardly featured in coach Xabi Alonso’s Madrid team this season, playing only three games, but is expected to make Brazil’s World Cup squad next year.

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Out Of Action

PSG right back Achraf Hakimi is in action for host Morocco at the Africa Cup of Nations. Clubmate Ibrahim Mbaye is playing up front for Senegal in the competition. PSG colleagues Matveï Safonov (goalkeeper) and Quentin Ndjantou (forward) are injured.

Safonov is recovering from a fractured hand sustained during a penalty shootout win, while the 18-year-old Ndjantou is nursing a thigh tear.

But PFC will be without skilful midfielder Ilan Kebbal, the club’s top scorer with six goals, who is playing for Algeria at the AFCON.

Off The Field

Around 40 PSG fans were stopped by police last Saturday night near the landmark Trocadéro esplanade for setting off flares and fireworks, without authorization to do so in public.

They did it to celebrate PSG’s successful year, which saw the club win the Champions League for the first time and clinch the domestic double as well as the Intercontinental Cup.