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Ligue 1 Fantasy Picks for the Weekend: Matchday 25

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It’s week 25 of the French league season, let’s look ahead to the players that could make all the difference to your fantasy team this weekend in Ligue 1.

Formation: 4-4-2

Goalkeeper: Steve Mandanda- Marseille

There is only one goalkeeper worth talking about and that is Steve Mandanda. He has kept 5 clean sheets in a row and Marseille will play Lille at the weekend. With 61 points Mandanda is ranked as the best goalkeeper currently in the league and he would cost 8.5m.

Defender: Pablo- Bordeaux

Bordeaux have kept 2 clean sheets from their last four games and Pablo has been good at the heart of defence. He has kept 6 clean sheets and even has 3 goals, so a good all round player and he could really be worth adding to your team.

Defender: Yunis Abdelhamid- Reims

Yunis Abdelhamid has been really impressive for Reims this season and the club will be at home to Rennes and determined to get back to winning ways. The defender has kept 10 clean sheets this season and also scored three goals.

Defender: Axel Disasi- Reims

Disasi has 46 points and like his teammate he has kept 10 clean sheets. What has been impressive with Reims this season has been how they do not concede many goals. For example at home the club have conceded 7 goals, only Lyon with 6 have shipped less.

Defender: Laurent Koscielney- Bordeaux

Koscielney has 22 point and has helped his club keep 6 clean sheets this season. Bordeaux have picked up on some form and are at home to Dijon where they will be looking to keep another clean sheet.

Midfielder: Houssem Aouar- Lyon

Aouar has helped with 7 clean sheets and been involved in 6 Lyon goals. He is the invisible player, that just gets the job done. Also Lyon will be looking to get back to winning ways and they could do just that being at home against Strasbourg.

Midfielder: Mehdi Abeid- Nantes

Mehdi Abeid has scored a goal and been involved in two assists, with the way he plays down the flank his club will be looking to him as they try and stop a 3 game losing streak. They will play Metz at the weekend have every chance of winning.

Midfielder: Xavier Chavalerin- Reims

Chavalerin has become one of the most important players for Reims and he has 22 points and scored one goal but also assisted in a further three. Reims are at home to Rennes and have the quality to shape that game if he is on form. He is valued at 6m.

Midfielder: Ibrahim Sangare- Toulouse

This is an interesting one as Toulouse have been so poor this season. But they will be at home to Nice, who have been a little under confident lately, and what do Toulouse have to lose now? Sangare is a risky choice to have a good game but is valued at just 5m and he could come good this weekend.

Striker: Andy Delort- Montpellier

Andy Delort is scoring goals again and could add to his tally this weekend as Montpellier take on Monaco who have a leaky defence. Delort has 9 goals and 3 assists so far.

Striker: Islam Slimani- Monaco

It was really important that Slimani found the net last weekend and that could give him the confidence to continue scoring goals for Monaco. He has scored 8 goals this season and assisted in another seven which has been really impressive.

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PSG win 6 goal thriller against Lyon as brilliant Lille close in on 3rd place

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A meeting between the two most successful sides in French football over the last 20 years was always going to garner the most attention and PSG and Lyon who have won 14 league titles between them in the last 17 league seasons didn’t let anyone down.

The game in Paris ended 4-2 to the league champions and whilst Lyon played their part they simply could not handle just how good PSG were. Angel Di Maria and Kylian Mbappe had seemingly wrapped up the game early on as PSG went in at half time 2-0 up. In the first half they had dominated possession and allowed no shots on target for the visitors.

The game was, in effect, over just a few minutes into the second half when PSG went 3-0 up courtesy of a bizarre own goal scored by Fernando Marcel. It was bizarre in the fact that it was such a good clinical goal- had it been a PSG player we would have been talking about it for some time. The player was obviously devastated and sunk to the ground in disbelief, he knew the game was over.

But then a miracle almost happened as Lyon’s Martin Terrier and Moussa Dembele who has been so good for Lyon this season both scored in the space of 7 minutes and suddenly Lyon were back in the game it was 3-2 with half an hour still to play. But PSG showed quality as they took down the level of the game and controlled the pace. Finally with ten minutes to go Edinson Cavani scored for the home side to win the game 4-2 and it was an important redemption goal for the Uruguayan who has felt left out of the side and was so close to leaving in the January transfer window. PSG remain on top with 61 points and are 12 points clear of Marseille.

Marseille did win at the weekend but they were quite disappointing at home against the bottom side Toulouse winning just 1-0 through a Dimitri Payet goal, Payet is on great form lately but Marseille had just 3 shots on target against a club who have conceded 49 goals this season and more was expected of them. Nonetheless a win is a win and it was actually a decent weekend for Marseille because Rennes in 3rd place could only draw 0-0 at home to Brest.

Rennes have put unnecessary pressure on themselves now to claim a top 3 place, they have no wins in their last 2 games and only 1 victory in their last four. The pressure was maximised because Lille won their 3rd straight game in a row to move within one point of Rennes. Lille beat Angers 2-0 away from home and the club have started to improve on the road after a nightmare start, in form Victor Osimhen opened the scoring for Lille who eased to a win.

Montpellier are in 5th after a 1-0 win over Bordeaux as Andy Delort scored his 9th goal of the season. The win was even more impressive for Montpellier as they played a large section of the game with 10 men after Solomon Sambia was sent off.

Strasbourg’s good form continued and they have now won 3 games from their last four to go into 6th place after they easily beat Reims 3-0, a direct rival for a European finish. The club got their revenge over Reims after the side had knocked them out of the Coupe de la Ligue at the quarter final stage with a penalty shoot out. Reims had zero shots on goal in the whole game and they have slipped to 10th place as a result.

Are Monaco recovering and starting to show what they can do under new coach Robert Moreno? Well the club did win their 2nd game in a row as they beat Amiens away from home 2-1. It was only Monaco’s 3rd win on the road and a first for Moreno away from home. However Monaco were heading for defeat, with just a few minutes left of the game Amiens were winning 1-0. But Ligue 1 top goalscorer Wissam Ben Yedder struck for the equaliser and then Islam Slimani became the hero of the day scoring in injury time. Cesc Fabregas had only been on the pitch for 4 minutes as he came off of the bench to assist in the winning goal. That moves the club up to 7th place.

Bordeaux moved to 8th after they beat Metz 2-1 away from home and the club have now gone their last 4 matches unbeaten. Remi Oudin a new signing from Reims got the winner for Bordeaux with just five minutes remaining to start his career with his new club in memorable style.

There is just 3 points between 8th and 5th and so much to play for in the league regarding European places. Marseille have taken a large step in the right direction to qualify for the Champions League and now have an 8 point lead over Rennes in 3rd place. PSG look like they have won the league, but will the upcoming Champions League games distract the team, if so it is only Marseille who have the smallest of chances of catching them. Watch this space as the league hots up with just 14 games and 42 points left to play for.

Prove you have what it takes to challenge the best French Fantasy Football managers here www.fantasyligue1.com 

 

Coupe de France round up: PSG squeeze through, Bordeaux shocked

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The round of 32 in the France’s main cup, the Coupe de France was the main focus this past weekend as Ligue 1 took a rest.

All eyes were on league champions PSG who had to travel to Lorient. Lorient are currently in 1st place in Ligue 2 and PSG of course top the standings in Ligue 1, so it made for an interesting match up. PSG coach Thomas Tuchel decided to have star players Kylian Mbappe and Neymar on the bench and he didn’t use them. The game was a very tight one which in the end PSG won 1-0 through a Pablo Sarabia header with just 10 minutes to go to break Lorient’s hearts. PSG will now face Pau FC in the last 16.

This will be a dream for Pau FC who are in the 3rd tier of French football, to be able to play against the mighty PSG for a chance in the quarter finals. It is everything Pau FC deserved after shocking another Ligue 1 team as they knocked out Bordeaux, winning 3-2 in what many have called one of the games of the round.

The match finished 2-2 and Pau FC won the game in extra time, there were 15,000 fans to see it and they have been drawn again at home to face PSG- put this in your calendars, the game takes place on January 29th.

Perhaps the game of the round though took place in Nantes where Lyon came to town and won an enthralling match 4-3. Lyon had found themselves 2-0 up in the first 10 minutes and at half time they were 3-1 up. Both teams revised their normal line ups but it was Lyon that showed more hunger in the end. Moussa Dembele who has arguably been one of Lyon’s better players this season seemingly put the game away when he made it 4-1. But Nantes were not completely done and a comeback looked on the cards after goals from Louza and Simon one in the 83rd minute and then another three minutes later. It was a very nervous last five minutes as Nantes pushed for a fourth goal but they couldn’t find it.

Elsewhere Strasbourg beat Angouleme 5-1 with Ludovic Ajorque getting on the score sheet once again though this was a penalty. Saint Etienne were involved in a very good game eventually beating Paris FC 3-2 away. Angers beat Rouen 4-1, Montpellier easily beat 5-0 with star striker Gaetan Laborde getting on the score sheet. Rennes won and Dijon put 5 goals past Nimes and Monaco squeezed through too.

Only the Bordeaux game was seen as a shock result, the last 16 games take place at the end of the month.

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Top Ligue 1 Goalkeepers in 2018/19: Benoit Costil

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Benoit Costil’s career will always be remembered by his time at Rennes but since 2017 he has been guarding the goal of Bordeaux and this past season he had a decent campaign with Bordeaux finishing in the top half of the league and for him he finished 7th with 35 points.

During the season he kept 9 clean sheets which was impressive for the 32 year old and he ended up being the only goal keeper from the top 9 in Ligue 1 that was neither sent off or booked for the whole season.

Costil’s went into last season with a value of 8m. While Bordeaux struggled at times, they did find enough form at one point in the season to think they could challenge for a Europa League finish but it quickly became evident that it couldn’t be the case for this year.

Costil started the season with by earning -4 points in his opening two games as the club kept conceding goals. In fact it wouldn’t get easier for him at the beginning of the season as in the next games Bordeaux beat Monaco but conceded with that match finishing 2-1 and the following game ended in a 2-0 loss to Rennes. The next match was a thriller but for Costil it did his points total no favours as Bordeaux drew 3-3 with Nimes. The next match ended in a 3-1 win over Guingamp but again Bordeaux had conceded. It meant that Costil did not earn any positive points until his 7th game of the season. But once he started he couldn’t at least for a while stop.

The great run begun when Bordeaux beat Lille and Costil kept 3 clean sheets in a row to earn 21 points. While he would gain some more consistency it was this run which started at the end of September and ran until the first week of October that ended up being the goal keeper’s best run of the season.

His single worst game points was against Nimes, Saint Etienne and Lyon were in those fixtures he earned -4 points on each occasion.

Costil ended the season much like he had begun it and earned no points in his last 6 games with a total points haul of -10.

This wasn’t a great season for Costil, although in some games he was outstanding, but Bordeaux simply were not strong enough and it showed. Still Costil beat his total from the season before which was 31,and he will be hoping to improve in the points stakes and try to keep a few more clean sheets next season.

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Top Ligue 1 Goalkeepers in 2018/19: Stephane Ruffier

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Saint Etienne played some wonderful football this past season, so good in fact that some media compared them to the great side of the 1970s that somehow made a nation fall in love with them for a few years. In the end their hard work paid off and they qualified for the Europa League and goalkeeper Stephan Ruffier was a key component to the clubs success this season.

Ruffier collected 58 points and finished in 5th place in the European Fantasy League Ligue 1 rankings for goalkeepers. In fact only 4 points separated him from finishing in 3rd.

The 32 year old has been at Saint Etienne for 8 years and made almost 300 appearances for the club, making 37 starts from 38 in the league this past season. While the club did concede 40 goals under Ruffier he also made 13 clean sheets the 4th best in the league. Disciplinary was good too with just one yellow card all season and his value going into the season was 7.5m which looks to have been a bargain.

It’s interesting to note that Ruffier picked up his one booking of the season in the first game of the campaign, but because he did so and because Saint Etienne conceded in both of their opening games he started matchday 3 with -1 points.

His season really kicked off against Montpellier when the teams played out a 0-0 draw at Stade de la Mosson but that earned Ruffier a clean sheets total of 7 points.

Ruffier’s most consistent period came just at the right time when Saint Etienne also known as the Verts (greens because of their shirts) went 3 games in a row without conceding a goal in April. And this form was key to the club making a European place and fighting off the likes of Marseille and Montpellier and for a time Reims.

The games came thick and fast and started with a 3-0 win over Bordeaux. Nobody gave Saint Etienne much chance away to Reims in their next game but they went there and won 2-0 and finished off their trilogy of matches with a 2-0 win over Toulouse and Ruffier earned a whopping 21 points in those three matches.

Ruffier’s worst points total was inevitably in Paris when PSG the reigning champions beat them 4-0 and as a result he ended up with -6 points.

His last two seasons have seen him earn much less than he did in this one, and he has improved significantly showing signs of perhaps getting back to his 2014 season best. His value looks sure to rise as he nears completing 10 years with the club that is clearly in his heart and now he will be back in European football for next season.

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Top Ligue 1 Midfielders in 2018/19: Wahbi Khazri

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Wahbi Khazri was one of the delights of Ligue 1 football this past season and his quality in midfield helped fire his club Saint Etienne into a Europa League finish. He also finished with his highest points tally in European Fantasy League thus far with 74 points, and joined only four other players in midfield in Ligue 1 who were able to score 70 or more points.

Khazri has played for five clubs over an 11 year career which started at Bastia, to date playing for Bastia is still his longest stint at one club which lasted for five years. After that spell he switched to Bordeaux for two seasons and then made the move to the Premier League signing for Sunderland. Despite having a decent season in the north of England he wasn’t scoring enough goals for the club, just 3 in 38 league games plus he was obviously missing being in France and was loaned out to Rennes before Saint Etienne spotted his talents and bought him.

In his debut season for Saint Etienne Khazri has done well scoring 13 goals and assisting in another six meaning that he has been involved in 19 of the clubs 59 goals.

Khazri started the season by picking up 4 points as he scored a goal in Saint Etienne’s 2-1 win over Guingamp. The midfielder’s best game was against Monaco when his club won 2-0. Not only did he score both goals but because a clean sheet was obtained too he picked up 10 points.

Khazri’s most consistent and best period begun at the end of November when Saint Etienne were paired with Nantes and ended in mid January. In this time frame Khazri played in five games and gained points in every one of those matches. It was a fine period for the player that saw him score goals and make crucial assists as Saint Etienne started to believe that they could chase a European place. In that time he got 28 points.

The one problem for the 28 year old was his short temper which landed him with 10 yellow cards throughout the season and 1 red card. With better discipline he could have ended up earning easily another 10-15 points.

In the end Khazri helped Saint Etienne to reach the Europa League and it will be interesting to see if he stays around. He should do but his career suggests that he will be on the move soon. At the same time he has just had his personal best season as a football player so the thinking is that he will be fine at this club.

His value this season started at 7.5m, and that could be set to rise for the beginning of next season after his impressive return from midfield.

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Ligue 1 Player of the Week: Mathieu Debuchy

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Mathieu Debuchy is the Ligue 1 Fantasy player of the week after he collected a whopping 13 points at the weekend as his side Saint Etienne beat Bordeaux 3-0 in a one sided game.

Points were immediately earned for the 33 year old defender as Saint Etienne not only won the game but also kept a clean sheet. But that was just the cusp of things to come for the player who maximised his points tally at the weekend by scoring not one but two second half goals.

Debuchy has scored 4 goals this season but getting half of those goals in one game was obviously a special moment for the player. The former Arsenal player finally joined up with Saint Etienne at the beginning of 2018 and has been a rock in defence for the team. However because of injuries he has only been able to start 18 games this season and earn just 33 points in the process. His value is rated at 7.5m and at this moment he wouldn’t make the top 20 defenders in the league in Fantasy Ligue 1 but that could be set to change with another couple of performances like this for his club before the end of the season.

Saint Etienne still have the hope of Champions League football which would be a glorious return for Debuchy given that he has already had that experience with Arsenal. Saint Etienne are just 3 points behind 3rd placed Lyon to finish in a position where they would then have to participate in a play off to get to the competition proper. More realistically a Europa League spot should be for the club but they have given themselves a chance of appearing in Europe’s elite competition after securing 2 clean sheets in their last five games and remaining unbeaten in their last four.

As for the goals at the weekend, Debuchy’s first was set up by former Bordeaux player Wahbi Khazri whose cross was met by Debuchy’s head for a fine goal. Debuchy added his 2nd in the final minute after a cross from Pierre-Yves Polomat with the game already won.

Saint Etienne coach Jean-Louis Gasset praised Debuchy’s performance and said: “The players showed great spirit, led by Mathieu Debuchy. I saw him limping and suffering, and then he came back on and scored twice. We do this job to work with people like him. There are still 18 points to play for, and if we continue playing like that we will keep moving forward. Let’s see where we are after that.”

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Ligue 1 Player of the Week – Martin Braithwaite (Bordeaux)

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With the penultimate weekend of the 2017-18 French Ligue 1 season now done and dusted, all that remains is one match in which to make or break your season. For Marseille, for example, their home clash against Amiens could spell the difference between a place in the early stages of next season’s Champions League, or the Europa League. Lyon and even Monaco face very similar challenges. At the other end of the table, with Metz and Troyes already relegated Toulouse will want to halt their recent slump in the visit of Guingamp if they are to avoid joining those two in Ligue 2 next term. Metz, in fact, play host to Bordeaux on the final day of the season – and it is these visitors that this week’s Ligue 1 Player of the Week represents.

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Malcom reaffirms desire to leave Bordeaux at end of the season

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Malcom Bordeaux

Bordeaux star Malcom has once again made clear his intentions to depart from the Ligue 1 side come the end of the campaign, revealing that he intends to be at one of Europe’s ‘elite clubs’ come the turn of the next season.

Despite pledging to his club that he would remain loyal to them for the remainder of the 2017/18 campaign, the Brazilian has been increasingly vocal that of his intentions to leave Bordeaux when the summer transfer window comes around.

Having garnered attention from the likes of Arsenal and Tottenham in January, Malcolm has made it clear that he sees the French club as a launch-pad from which to hit loftier heights in the European game and not as a final destination. Continue reading →

How Gus Poyet can inspire Bordeaux to European football this season

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New Bordeaux manager Gus Poyet has had a stellar impact upon the club since his arrival in Ligue 1. With the campaign to finish within the European places beginning to heat up as we approach the final stretch of the season, could his impetus be the driving force behind a late surge for the top six?

The 50-year-old’s side ran out convincing winners away to a Strasbourg side that have slid down the table in recent weeks, having now won only one of their last five fixtures.

Poyet’s team took an early lead when 28-year-old Senegalese midfielder Younousse Sankharé put them ahead in only the 3rd minute, grabbing his fifth goal this season hitting a points tally of 27 for the campaign. Continue reading →