Welcome to another exciting round of our Ligue 1 predictions competition. Our chief editor, Luke Entwistle, along with sub-editors Raphaël Jucobin and Bastien Cheval, are once again putting their forecasting skills to the test. This season, we are also delighted to host guest experts. Earlier, The Athletic`s Alex Barker participated, achieving an impressive score that currently places him atop our guest leaderboard. This week, we are joined by acclaimed French football expert Julien Laurens. The scoring system awards 3 points for a correct score, 2 points for a correct score difference, and 1 point for a correct match result. Who will emerge victorious at the season`s end?
Current Standings (Ahead of Round 5)
- Raphaël: 32 points
- Luke: 29 points
- Bastien: 36 points
Guest Leaderboard
- Alex Barker: 7 points
Game of the Week: Olympique de Marseille v Paris Saint-Germain, Sunday 19:45 (UK)
Despite having one less day to prepare for this fixture, having played Atalanta in the Champions League on Wednesday night, Paris Saint-Germain are nonetheless the overwhelming favorites, a common theme in recent editions of Le Classique. While they haven`t started the season with absolute dominance and are missing key players like Ousmane Dembélé and Désiré Doué, PSG have begun to find their rhythm. The comfortable 4-0 victory over Atalanta serves as a clear testament to this. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia`s performance, arguably his best of the campaign so far, also offers a source of optimism for PSG, who will enter a hostile Vélodrome environment extremely confident in securing their desired and expected result.
It`s not that Olympique de Marseille are in poor form. They convincingly beat Lorient last weekend and were, in fact, unlucky to leave the Bernabéu empty-handed. Real Madrid relied on a very fortuitous penalty to secure a narrow 2-1 win. However, Real Madrid played incredibly openly in the first half, offering spaces that PSG simply will not. Exhibiting defensive fragility and having relied on a significant performance from Gerónimo Rulli, it would seem challenging for Marseille to keep PSG at bay, even if the Parisians are without some of their most prolific attacking players.
Round 5 Predictions
Julien Laurens` Full Predictions:
- Lyon 3-1 Angers
- Nantes 1-2 Rennes
- Brest 1-0 Nice
- Lens 1-1 Lille
- Paris FC 2-3 Strasbourg
- Auxerre 2-2 Toulouse
- Le Havre 2-1 Lorient
- Monaco 3-0 Metz
- Marseille 1-2 PSG
Raphaël`s Full Predictions:
- Lyon 2-0 Angers
- Nantes 1-3 Rennes
- Brest 1-1 Nice
- Lens 2-2 Lille
- Paris FC 2-3 Strasbourg
- Monaco 2-0 Metz
- Le Havre 1-0 Lorient
- Auxerre 2-2 Toulouse
- Marseille 2-4 PSG
Luke`s Full Predictions:
- Nantes 2-1 Rennes
- Lens 1-1 Lille
- Marseille 1-3 PSG
- Lyon 2-0 Angers
- Brest 0-1 Nice
- Paris FC 1-2 Strasbourg
- Monaco 3-0 Metz
- Le Havre 2-1 Lorient
- Auxerre 1-1 Toulouse
Bastien`s Full Predictions:
- Lyon 2-0 Angers
- Nantes 0-2 Rennes
- Brest 0-1 Nice
- Lens 1-2 Lille
- Paris FC 1-1 Strasbourg
- Auxerre 1-1 Toulouse
- Le Havre 1-0 Lorient
- Monaco 2-0 Metz
- Marseille 1-2 PSG
