Ligue 1 - The early stages

LIGUE 1

 With more games than the other leagues, Ligue 1 is one of the most open, mostly due to the fact that PSG, the force that has dominated last years started slowly and teams like Monaco or Nice took their chance. It seems certain, though, this won’t be a boring league, not like last year.

                  

     

PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN

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You only know how much you’ll miss them when they’re gone. Zlatan left Paris, and with him it looks like there is a void in the PSG team. Not of quality, because even though Ibra is great, there’s still aplenty, but more of leadership. An home draw and a loss to Monaco is not a good enough start and with teams eager to over throne them, Emery needs to step up a notch.

                                                      

     

AS MONACO

When Leonardo Jardim was signed, Monaco was still a team that seemed ready to splash the cash in players they thought would improve the team. Things have clearly change since then, with the Portuguese manager creating a young team, with raw talent that he molds into players capable of winning titles. The start was fabulous, with the headlines going to Bernardo Silva, an exciting attacking midfielder that could be one of the next big transfers in Europe.

                             

      

OGC NICE

 Following the good season they had, Nice started 2016/17 trying to make a name for themselves. To that purpose they went to the transfer market and they brought some reinforcements with two big names in Dante and Balotelli. The Italian made instant impact in the win against Marseille, while the Brazilian comes to bring experience and leadership to a side that is involved in the Europa League and is still unbeaten in the league.

                                 The League

Latest Results

There’s a strange feel to this league as there’s one main goal to 19 of the teams in it – Do no let PSG win it and maybe the best of the rest have it could make for a very interesting league to follow. Unay Emery’s team is struggling to find consistency, but the win against Caen was very convincing. Jardim’s Monaco is still on top, capitalizing on the great win over the Paris rivals, while Nice is unbeaten and trying to recreate the glory of the 50’s where they won the 4 titles in their history

After such a dull year, is nice to see someone other than PSG on top of the league

Top Goalscorers

Lacazette started well, but his team is failing him. Cavani scored 4 against Caen and hopes to carry that form

Next Fixtures

Games to follow :

Round 6 - Nice (2nd) vs Monaco (1st) ; Metz (4th) vs Bordeuax (5th)

Round 7 - Toulouse (6th) vs PSG (3rd) ; Marseille (15th) vs Nantes (18th)