2022/23				Overall									Home						Away
				P	W	D	L	F	A	Gdf	Pts	Form	P	W	D	L	F	A	P	W	D	L	F	A
	1		Paris SG	15	13	2	0	43	9	+34	41	WWWW	7	6	1	0	19	7	8	7	1	0	24	2
	2		Lens	15	11	3	1	26	10	+16	36	WWWW	8	8	0	0	18	6	7	3	3	1	8	4
	3		Rennes	15	9	4	2	31	14	+17	31	WXWW	8	7	0	1	21	6	7	2	4	1	10	8
	4		Marseille	15	9	3	3	26	13	+13	30	WWXL	8	5	1	2	12	7	7	4	2	1	14	6
	5	1	Lorient	15	8	4	3	26	21	+5	28	XLLX	7	4	1	2	12	9	8	4	3	1	14	12
	6	1	Monaco	15	8	3	4	29	21	+8	27	LWWL	8	3	2	3	15	15	7	5	1	1	14	6
	7		Lille	15	8	2	5	27	23	+4	26	WXLW	8	5	1	2	15	15	7	3	1	3	12	8
	8		Lyon	15	6	3	6	23	18	+5	21	XLWW	8	5	2	1	16	6	7	1	1	5	7	12
	9		Nice	15	5	5	5	15	17	-2	20	XWWX	7	2	2	3	6	9	8	3	3	2	9	8
	10		Clermont	15	5	4	6	19	23	-4	19	LXXL	7	3	1	3	8	13	8	2	3	3	11	10
	11		Reims	15	3	8	4	16	21	-5	17	XWOW	7	2	3	2	7	10	8	1	5	2	9	11
	12		Toulouse	15	4	4	7	20	27	-7	16	LLLX	8	3	3	2	13	14	7	1	1	5	7	13
	13	1	Montpellier	15	4	2	9	24	29	-5	14	XXLL	8	3	1	4	11	13	7	1	1	5	13	16
	14	1	Troyes	15	3	5	7	26	31	-5	14	LXLX	7	1	5	1	10	11	8	2	0	6	16	20
	15	1	Nantes	15	2	7	6	17	24	-7	13	XLXX	7	2	4	1	11	9	8	0	3	5	6	15
	16	3	Brest	15	3	4	8	16	28	-12	13	WLOW	7	1	3	3	5	13	8	2	1	5	11	15
	17	2	Auxerre	15	3	4	8	14	31	-17	13	LXWL	7	2	3	2	7	9	8	1	1	6	7	22
	18	1	AC Ajaccio	15	3	3	9	14	24	-10	12	XWLL	7	1	1	5	6	13	8	2	2	4	8	11
	19	1	Strasbourg	15	1	8	6	17	26	-9	11	XLXX	8	0	5	3	7	13	7	1	3	3	10	13
	20		Angers	15	2	2	11	15	34	-19	8	LLLL	8	1	1	6	9	18	7	1	1	5	6	16

 

 

PSG 11.7 / 6.2, 24-6, 60-44 , 11.3  ........the best team in France, who knew ?

 

Lens 9.3 / 5.9, 15-9, 52-40, 11.2  ...........very solid defensively, only PSG have conceded fewer and that is backed up by the numbers.

 

Rennes 11.0 / 7.1, 24-13, 51-41, 12.7  ........ offensive numbers on a par with PSG, but are giving up a lot of BC's (13 in last five starts).

 

Marseille 9.5 / 6.7, 6-9, 47-46 , 9.0 ...........really strong numbers and if we take out the recent statistical hammering from PSG, they are unbelievably good.

 

Lorient 5.8 / 8.8 , 7-14, 44-52, 11.5 ........... bottom six numbers , they have created just 1 BC in 5/6 starts and are a net -8 BC's and -14 ITB attempts in their last three and are only keeping a top six spot warm for someone else. - - - -

 

Monaco 8.9 / 7.9, 15-11, 42-52, 11.2 ..........the ASM numbers have been very up (against bottom half opponents) and down ( versus top ten teams)

 

Lille 11.0 / 5.7, 20-9, 56-32, 9.7 ....... really on a high right now and dominated the four games in this recent sequence against top 8 opposition. They have also re-found that defensive nous they have long been associated with, without it holding them back offensively. + + + +

 

Lyon 7.4 / 7.6, 11-16, 44-43, 8.2 ......... pretty average numbers and struggled statistically in the four games versus top half opposition.

 

Nice 9.6 / 6.8, 14-10, 51-41, 12.3 ......... decent enough, but not really performing in back to back games and tough to trust at low odds.

 

Clermont 8.0 / 9.5, 14-14, 49-45, 11.7 .... second season in the top flight, they were 17th in 21/22 and must be delighted with 10th currently given their budget limitations. Recent stats have a lower mid table look, but xP places them bottom two and they seem likely to get dragged into the relegation scrap at some stage.

 

Reims 10.4 / 6.4, 16-11, 60-38, 11.3 ..... Reims have a decent budget (9th best), were 12th last season, are 11th currently, numbers are trending upwards and if they can start turning a few of those draws into wins, they have plenty of upward potential. + + +

 

Toulouse 7.0 / 10.9, 10-19, 45-53, 9.7 .........not quite showing the offensive flair I expected and have given up 3+ BC's in each of their last five starts, including against the bottom two.

 

Troyes 7.6 / 12.6, 12-21, 51-60, 11.0 ..... have goals in them and are the highest scorers outside of the top 7, but those defensive numbers are poor. Goals are always likely when Troyes are in action.

 

Montpellier 6.3 / 11.2, 9-19, 31-61, 6.7 ............ they have played a good level of opposition, but those last six game numbers are just awful and xP says they are bottom three. They picked up just 12 points over the second half of 21/22 , so have played poorly for a whole year. - - -

 

Nantes 7.7 / 9.8 , 10-15, 41-57, 11.2  ....finished 9th last season and won the Coupe de France, but all numbers recent and season so far, suggests bottom six . I suspect that they have been distracted by playing in Europe, but goals are hard to come by and they got a statistical hammering from two fellow bottom half of the table sides to take into the break.

 

Brest 9.9 / 7.5, 15-9, 55-48, 10.5 ...... really eye-catching stats, especially over their last four starts and against decent level opposition and teams who have been solid (Nice and Reims). + + + +

 

Auxerre 5.0 / 8.7, 5-18, 38-52, 12.0 ........ no one has scored fewer goals and those numbers tell us why, just 5 BC's in six starts and three came in one game.

 

Ajaccio 9.4 / 7.0, 13-10, 40-40, 11.5 ..........not bottom three numbers by any means and xP places them circa 12th for the season, very unlucky to have just 12 points on board. If we take the PSG match out of their starts, they are a net +5.8 xG, +9 BC's and +11 ITB attempts across their last four games. They have the lowest budget in the league, but have outperformed that by some way. + + +

 

Strasbourg 8.9 / 12.2 , 14-21, 50-52, 11.0 ....... 6th last season, nothing wrong with them offensively, but it is coming at huge cost at the other end of the pitch, last eight games have averaged 3. 875 goals.

 

Angers 6.0 /11.7 , 13-23, 37-47, 8.2 ........... have given up at least 3 BC's in each of their last 7 starts and no surprise they have already lost 11 games and conceded 34 goals. - - 

 

 

PSG 700m€

Marseille 250m

Lyon 250m

Monaco 240m

Nice 100m

Lille 100m ......down from 147m

Rennes 90m ......down by 20m

Nantes 75m

Reims 70m

Lens 62m .....up from 43m

Montpellier 52m

Lorient 50m

Brest 48m .......50% increase

Troyes 45m...... 50% increase

Strasbourg 45m

Toulouse 40m

Angers 40m

Auxerre 32m

Clermont 25m

Ajaccio 22m

 

Lens have obviously made good use of the extra funds, but you can make a strong case for Rennes and especially Lille doing just as well after big percentage cuts in their budgets. It doesn't always help to have additional funding, after finishing 12th in 20/21, Bordeaux were given an increase from 65m to 122m for last season and finished bottom of Ligue 1! But it remains true that money talks in football and the more you have, the better you do over the long term, such is life!

 

Most value for their buck so far ? Clermont @ 1.32m€ per point, followed by Lens 1.72m, Lorient 1.79m and Ajaccio 1.83m, no surprise who's points have cost most, it's PSG @ 17m, per point, then Lyon 11.9m, Monaco 8.89m and Marseille 8.33m . only one other club is paying over 5m pp and that is Nantes (5.77m).

 

 

54 Ligue 1 players went to Qatar , 21 returned to their clubs after the group stage, which would have limited disruption and preparation for the restart, the only clubs with more than one representative at the R16 stage were Angers (2), Rennes (3), Marseille (4), Monaco (6) and no prizes for guessing ......PSG (10). In terms of those still in Qatar this week, at the semi final stage, the five clubs were actually very similarly affected, PSG with three players still on international duty and the other four with two each and hard not to view Angers, small club, small budget as the most hard hit, with Sofiane Boufal ( 11 games, 3 goals , 3 assists, winless in four in his absence) and Azzedine Ounahi (14 appearances) both with Morocco.

 

 

Ligue 1 resumes on December 28th/29th and there is also a full round played at New Year (January 1st/2nd) and we will be very active for both .

 

 

Good luck!