By Tim Stannard

Friday night frights for Monaco and Lille
 
The report card, a third of the way through the season in Ligue 1, for the two teams that finished first and third last season is ‘must do better’. Much better. In fact, see the teacher after class. Two ‘D’ grades.
 
Let’s start with the biggest offender, Lille. The reigning league champions are currently in twelfth place in Ligue 1 with just four wins from 13 games, no victories in the past four matches and four defeats in the last five away games.  A Ligue 1 title repeat was never an expectation for Lille, especially with the coach Christophe Galtier moving to Nice, but a top-five finish was more than doable. Especially so with the talent available – the three Jonathan’s up front – David, Bamba and Ikone, along with Burak Yilmaz, and seasoned internationals across the pitch such as Renato Sanches and Jose Fonte. To this end, coach Jocelyn Gourvennec may soon be on borrowed time if this run continues irrespective of whether the team makes it through to the next round of the Champions League.
 

 
Copy-paste for Monaco, a team that is just one place and two points above Lille and also has a stacked squad including a forward line of Kevin Volland and Wissam Ben Yedder that saw action for Germany and France in the recent World Cup qualifiers. Yet Monaco have just the one victory in the past four Ligue 1 games with just 0.8 goals scored per game.
 
Friday’s Ligue 1 opening game is stuffed to the gills with gravitas and might well cause the biggest shockwaves across the weekend.
 

👉🔥 Monaco vs. Lille – live on beIN SPORTS on Friday at 2:50PM ET / 11:50AM PT 👀 ⚽️
 

Messi promises strong finish to 2021 starting with Nantes
 
Although Mauricio Pochettino still won’t be able to field the titanic trio of Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi and Neymar against Nantes – a thigh injury is hampering the latter – the first two look to be in a much improved physical and mental space.
 
Mbappe admitted over the recent international break, where he lead France to the 2022 World Cup, that he had been suffering the effects of both Euro 2020 disappointment and his personal transfer saga. For Messi, it was about being fully fit, getting over a knee injury and also being able to focus 100% on PSG, having seen Argentina also qualify for Qatar 2022. “I want to finish this year in the best possible way,” posted Messi on his arrival back in Paris on Wednesday. That beginning of that particular end could be a long awaited debut goal in Ligue 1 on Saturday against a Nantes team that has just one win in four.

There was further good news for Coach Poch during the week with the vital Marco Verratti back in training and the possibility of Sergio Ramos getting his first PSG call-up since joining from Real Madrid over the summer. To be fair, the situation is not particularly dire in Ligue 1 with PSG enjoying a 10-point lead at the top of the standings, having lost just one game all season. But it could be about to get even better with the luck potentially changing at PSG.
 

💥🔝 PSG vs. Nantes – live on beIN SPORTS on Saturday at 10:50AM ET / 7:50AM PT 😳
 

Lens still in focused on a top-four finish
 
Aside from being one of the most gung-ho, fun teams to watch in Ligue 1, the most admirable trait of Lens, a team that is in second place in the standings, is the side’s bounce-back-ability. In 13 Ligue 1 games this season, every time that Lens have dropped points against a rival – just five times - Lens have always won the subsequent game. That tally of vanquished teams varies from those that might have been direct rivals for Lens in an alternate timeline – Troyes, Metz, Reims and Bordeaux – to those against whom Lens is now competing for a Champions League-placed finish – Marseille, Monaco and Lille.
 

Sunday’s early-risers match at Brest is against an opponent that is very much in the former category, giving Lens the chance to continue to lead the PSG chasing pack and have enormous fun in the process. It’s the perfect wake-up call for those of us Stateside.
 

▶️ Brest vs. Lens – live on beIN SPORTS on Sunday at 6:50AM ET / 3:50AM PT 📺🔥
 

The last time we saw Lyon, the side coached by Peter Bosz was not in a good place at all, having been taking apart in spectacular fashion by Rennes in a 4-1 hammering. The pasting showed Lyon’s defensive frailties to the fullest. Portuguese international goalkeeper, Anthony Lopes, has made 52 saves this season, the most of any keeper in Europe’s top leagues. Meanwhile Lyon have conceded 11 goals in the final 15 minutes in Ligue 1 this season, seeing eight points dropped. Those missed points plonk Lyon in seventh in Ligue 1 rather than in second.
 

 
The message for visiting Marseille is clear in Sunday’s clash of the titans – hang on in there and polish Lyon off at the end. Fortunately, Marseille is a team well-equipped for doing just this. Despite a reputation for swashbuckling football, Marseille have six clean sheets from 13 matches this season, conceding just eight goals – eight less than PSG.
 
There has been patience from Lyon’s bosses over the Peter Bosz project, but that could run low without a pick-me-up result against Marseille on Sunday.
 

🔥 Lyon vs. Marseille – live on beIN SPORTS on Sunday at 2:30PM ET / 11:30AM PT 💥