2023/24				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		Auxerre	34	18	10	6	63	34	+29	64	WLLW	17	10	5	2	33	13	17	8	5	4	30	21
	2		Saint-Étienne	35	19	6	10	44	26	+18	63	WWWL	18	10	3	5	23	13	17	9	3	5	21	13
	3		Angers	35	18	7	10	52	40	+12	61	LWWO	17	12	3	2	29	14	18	6	4	8	23	26
	4		Rodez	35	15	11	9	58	47	+11	56	WWWL	17	9	6	2	32	19	18	6	5	7	26	28
	5		Paris FC	35	15	10	10	46	38	+8	55	WLWW	18	9	4	5	27	18	17	6	6	5	19	20
	6		Laval	35	14	10	11	38	42	-4	52	WLLL	18	6	5	7	18	25	17	8	5	4	20	17
	7		Pau	35	13	12	10	56	50	+6	51	LXWW	18	7	6	5	31	25	17	6	6	5	25	25
	8		Caen	35	15	6	14	45	43	+2	51	LWLW	17	9	3	5	21	12	18	6	3	9	24	31
	9		Guingamp	35	13	11	11	41	35	+6	50	WLLW	17	5	6	6	22	18	18	8	5	5	19	17
	10		Amiens	35	10	16	9	31	34	-3	46	OXLO	18	5	9	4	17	16	17	5	7	5	14	18
	11		AC Ajaccio	35	12	10	13	34	38	-4	46	XLWW	18	10	6	2	25	12	17	2	4	11	9	26
	12		Bastia1	35	13	8	14	40	44	-4	46	LWWW	17	8	4	5	20	20	18	5	4	9	20	24
	13		Grenoble	35	11	12	12	38	39	-1	45	LLWO	17	6	7	4	20	17	18	5	5	8	18	22
	14		Bordeaux2	35	12	9	14	41	46	-5	44	LWLL	17	8	5	4	24	17	18	4	4	10	17	29
	15		Annecy	35	11	9	15	44	46	-2	42	WLLW	18	5	6	7	21	25	17	6	3	8	23	21
	16		Dunkerque	34	11	8	15	31	46	-15	41	LWLX	17	4	3	10	12	25	17	7	5	5	19	21
	17		Troyes	35	8	13	14	39	47	-8	37	OXLL	17	7	3	7	27	24	18	1	10	7	12	23
	18		Quevilly-Rouen	35	6	17	12	47	50	-3	35	XXOW	17	3	7	7	21	24	18	3	10	5	26	26
	19		Concarneau	35	9	8	18	33	49	-16	35	LLOO	18	4	5	9	19	29	17	5	3	9	14	20
	20		Valenciennes	35	4	11	20	23	50	-27	23	WWLL	18	3	6	9	13	23	17	1	5	11	10	27
1	Bastia (-1)
2	Bordeaux (-1)

 

 

This game is interesting and is a fixture we can, hopefully, learn something from for next season.

 

Auxerre need two wins to secure promotion and they will not want to leave it that long, but their final two games come against a team with nothing to play for and one who will already be relegated by then, so they have that "easy" finish if required.

 

Dunkerque are four points clear of the drop zone with this game in hand and should be safe, as they have played at a high level since Christmas. They went into the holiday in 19th place, with just 13 points from 19 rounds and have subsequently played at 3rd place level ( 1.75 points pg). I have kind of already bought into what is going on at Dunkerque, which is interestingly located just 10KM from the border of Belgium and wrote in February .......

 

 

The people now involved in the club have not come to battle to survive in Ligue 2, but that had to be target #1 and this was their first ever season at this level. It is a league in which you can improve quickly (two of the current top 6 finished 14th and 15th last season) and in 24/25. Ligue 2 will be smaller (18 teams) and arguably, weaker. Long term readers know that we almost always do well with these teams that we pick up on early and track and it can be both fun and profitable to follow their progress and that should be the case with Dunkerque. They are looking to help resurrect the career of Jean-Phillipe Gbamin for whom Everton paid 25m€ for in 2019 after three successful Bundesliga seasons. He was injury hit for most of his time with the Toffees, but apparently he agreed to terminate the final year of his contract and forgo £5m of salary, in order to become a free agent and play regular football. He found a home in Dunkerque and after being given a month to get up to speed, he has played in DM in all 15 games of 2024, through which the club have conceded just 14 goals (0.71 gpg fewer than prior to his arrival). Still only 28 yo and with almost 200 Bundesliga and Ligue 1 starts to his name and a full Ivory Coast international, he brings a lot of class to the team. Back in October, before he joined the club it was noted by the Guardian that..........