Jeu Du Jour Podcast - Week 35

Earlier in the week than normal, our third Jeu Du Jour podcast brings news of Week 35 in Ligue 1 including the relegation battle that won't die away and Marseille's failure to all but seal the title against nearest rivals Auxerre last Friday.

There's also a titilating look at Brest's promotion from Ligue 2 and PSG's weekend win in the Final of the French Cup against Monaco.

All that and lots more besides, so sit back, munch on a few onions and enjoy...

Jeu Du Jour Podcast - Week 34

Our second Jeu du Jour Podcast brings you news of Marseille's continuing dominance, Montpellier's continuing sequence of draws, Bordeaux's continuing capitulation and lots more besides including news of this weekend's French Cup Final.

Enjoy...

Jeu Du Jour Podcast - Week 33

In a change from what's gone before, SPAOTP brings you Jeu Du Jour in podcast form.

We figured our weekly articles were perhaps leaving you a little the worse for wear, so as we head into the last five or so weeks of the Ligue 1 season, we've changed tack to give you all the info you need in audio form.

The podcast can be listened to via our SoundCloud widget below, but sadly not from iTunes as things stand. Apologies for any inconvenience this may cause. Enjoy...

Jeu du Jour Week 31: Lyon and Marseille tighten the screw

As if to prove it’s still anyone’s title for the taking, Lyon stepped up to the plate last weekend to take temporary charge of Ligue 1, swiftly followed by Marseille on Wednesday night.

As reported by us for some time now, Bordeaux have been hanging onto top spot by their very fingertips, but over the last few weeks the chasing pack have been prizing off those fingers one by one to the point where this week Bordeaux fell to fifth, and it was their two biggest rivals that took full advantage.

Bordeaux crashed to a third successive defeat last Saturday, losing 3-1 at home to Nancy. While the latter have proven themselves more than capable of getting one over on their opponents in recent years, their own credentials as title Dark Horses haven’t this season been to the fore. For all that though, Nancy did show Bordeaux how to dominate the game and take all three points, causing some to suggest Laurent Blanc’s men were getting too distracted by their commitments outside of the league.

With one eye on the second leg of their Champions League quarter final against Lyon, Bordeaux got off to a bad start against ASNL but Fernando Cavenaghi was at least quick to equalise Youssef Hadji’s 18th minute goal. Come the second half, however, Issiar Dia proved the difference between the two sides, his 80-yard run and shot easily good enough to win this or any other game.

With Les Girondins out of the way, it was Lyon who took over at the top of the table with a 2-1 win at Rennes. Asamoah Gyan gave the home side the lead with his 13th goal of the season, but that only served to wake up Lyon who struck back with two goals – one from Michel Bastos, the other from Lisandro Lopez who also took his tally to 13.

Montpellier’s goalless draw at Monaco kept them in the top three but they’ll be worried to have picked up only one win now in their last five. Auxerre also drew, their 1-1 at home to PSG helping them take fourth, but it was Marseille who set the wheels in motion to make the most notable progress this weekend. Their 1-0 win at home to Lens on Sunday was not easily earned – they had Brandao sent off a quarter of an hour before the end – but it went half-way towards sending Marseille to the top of the table a few days later.

Playing one of their two games in hand, Didier Deschamps’ men faced Sochaux on Wednesday night and quickly had all three points sewn up. Within half an hour, Gabriel Heinze and Hatem Ben Arfa had put Marseille 2-0 in front and with Bakary Koné adding a third in injury time, L’OM were home, hosed and on top of the table.

So Bordeaux are remarkably down to fifth, but with just three points covering the top five it should be noted that the reigning champions have two games in hand. Laurent Blanc can only hope they can make them count in the light of some abject recent form that’s seen Bordeaux pick up only 7 points from the last 18 available.

At the other end of the table, the gap between the bottom three and Saint Etienne was extended to eight points and at a stroke virtually condemned those in the relegation zone to... well, relegation.

There was a big six-pointer last Saturday when Les Verts hosted Le Mans at the Stade Geoffrey-Guichard, and it was the home side that ran out 2-0 winners to condemn Le Mans to a fourth straight defeat. Arnaud Cormier’s side still have a game in hand, but if they were to win that in somewhat unlikely circumstances, they’d only leapfrog Boulogne on goal difference to go 18th – still well short of Saint Etienne just outside the relegation zone.

Elsewhere at le pied, Boulogne did well to scrap out a 1-1 draw against Toulouse last week to go three points clear of Le Mans, while bottom team Grenoble were unable to notch up a fourth win of the season as they crashed 1-2 at home to Lorient.

Lorient are the second best team on current form (if you take the last six games of all teams into consideration) but it’s only good enough to get them up to eighth in the table – not good enough for a Europa League place. With them on 49 points are Rennes in 7th, another team that’s shown glimpses of quality (albeit not enough), then laid before you are a scattered trail of broken teams who have, how can we put it, had a season of consolidation.

Chief among them are Monaco who notched up a fourth straight draw last weekend against Montpellier, Valenciennes (1-0 winners over Lille), Nancy and PSG. Further down, if it weren’t for the particularly poor bottom three, we might have seen teams like Sochaux, Nice and Lens in danger. As it is, they can coast through to the end of the season knowing there’s more chance of hell freezing over than being dragged into a dogfight at the bottom.

The final word this week goes to Lyon who, despite losing the second leg 1-0, won a place in the last four of this season’s Champions League by beating Bordeaux 3-2 on aggregate. They’ll now face Bayern Munich – conquerors of Man United – in the semis for a chance to be trodden into a pulp by Barcelona in the Final. Probably. Anyway, well done to Lyon for dramatically salvaging something from what’s been a poor season by their standards. Whoever wrote them off as one of Europe’s better teams – actually, make that France’s better teams – can seek solace in the large portion of humble pie that’s waiting to be eaten by them.

That’s all for now – until next week’s Jeu Du Jour, it’s à bientôt...

Full results and standings available here

Jeu du Jour Week 30: Bordeaux bulldozed

To say that this hasn’t been the best week in Bordeaux’s recent history is something of an understatement. It began on Saturday as Les Girondins faced Marseille in the 16th Coupe de la Ligue Final at the Stade de France in Paris. Bordeaux, holders of the cup going into the match, were up against Didier Deschamps’ side who hadn’t won a single trophy since 1993 when Deschamps himself lifted the European Cup as club captain. For them, the long wait was about to end, but for Bordeaux, a tough week was about to begin.

In 2009, Bordeaux faced little-known Ligue 2 side Vannes and won the Final at a canter, 4-0. This time, Marseille would prove altogether tougher opponents. That said, Bordeaux were the happier team going in at half time with the score at 0-0. Laurent Blanc’s men had the better of the exchanges in the first 45 minutes, but that soon changed just after the hour mark when Mathieu Valbuena – on for injured Marseille skipper Mamadou Niang – crossed for Souleymane Diawara who duly headed in.

Six minutes later, Valbuena got his own name on the scoresheet with a shot that put Marseille 2-0 up before completing a memorable performance as his free kick was deflected in by Mathieu Chalmé to make it three. Seven minutes from time, Bordeaux pulled one back through Ludovic Sané, but by then it was all over. Deschamps had guided his team to a rare moment of glory, and if this performance is anything to go by, Marseille may yet come back to haunt Bordeaux in the remaining weeks of the league season.

While all the attention was on the Coupe de la Ligue Final, Lyon were busy trying to salvage something from the wreckage of their own league campaign. They played bottom club Grenoble on Saturday – under sufferance too following Bordeaux’s request to the LFP that Lyon’s game be moved from Friday to ensure both teams got the same number of days’ rest before their Champions League quarter final three days later. In the end, it would prove futile as Lyon comfortably ran out 2-0 winners with goals from Michel Bastos and Cesar Delgado – a psychological advantage gained before the Champions League circus rolled into town.

Six matches took place on Sunday, chief among which was the battle between Lille – freed from the distraction of the Europa League – and Montpellier – hoping to overtake Bordeaux at the top of the table. The result was a surprise to say the least: 4-1 to Lille, a result which slightly flattered the home side given Montpellier’s battle to equalise following Gervinho’s 17th minute opener. Souleymane Camara did the necessary for Rene Girard’s team, but they were on level terms for only seven second half minutes before the flood gates opened and Lille began the rout.

Montpellier remain in second on 56 points, but they now have Auxerre for company on the same total as well as Bordeaux. AJA’s goalless draw against Monaco on Monday night means all three teams are level, although Bordeaux now have two games in hand. Lille and Lyon are fourth and fifth respectively on 54 points followed by Marseille on 53, but like Bordeaux they also have two games in hand.

So just three points cover the top six teams, and they could soon be joined by a seventh as Rennes continue their charge up the table with a fourth consecutive win. Their 3-1 win at lowly Le Mans means they’re just four points behind Marseille and a victory over Lyon at home this weekend could put them even closer in touch with the leaders yet.

At the foot of the table, Nice continue to pull away from danger with a third consecutive win under caretaker coach Eric Roy. A 2-0 win at Toulouse puts Nice on 35 points, twelve clear of Boulogne in 18th and now level on points with Lens in 15th who went down 5-1 to Nancy.

Saint Etienne remain anchored in 17th spot after their 4-0 thumping by Lorient left them without a win in five league games. As it is, they remain safe for another week thanks to Boulogne losing again – their two game winning run coming to an end with a 3-0 loss at PSG.

All of which left us waiting for the mouthwatering prospect that was Lyon v Bordeaux in the Champions League on Tuesday, and here’s where Bordeaux’s week was officially confirmed as ‘very poor’.

In front of a home crowd, Lyon got off to a flyer when Lisandro Lopez capitalised on a mistake by Michael Ciani with only 10 minutes on the clock. Four minutes later, Marouane Chamakh was Johnny-on-the-Spot once again when he headed in from a Yoann Gourcuff cross to make it 1-1, but 13 minutes before the break, Michel Bastos smashed in an effort from a narrow angle to give Lyon the lead at half time.

Bordeaux needed a quick boost at the start of the second half and nearly got it as Wendel, Gourcuff, Plasil and Chamakh all came close with their own efforts. But it was to be Lyon who’d prove the stronger as Lopez got his second and Lyon’s third from the penalty spot in the 77th minute to seal a valuable first leg victory.

It’ll be all back to the Stade Chaban-Delmas next Wednesday for the second leg, by which time Laurent Blanc will have hopefully worked out where it all went wrong for his team this week, but the damage may already be done for Bordeaux in what’s proving to be a gruelling season all round.

That’s all for now, until next week’s Jeu Du Jour, it’s à bientôt...

Full results and standings available here

Jeu du Jour Week 29: Dimanche Superbe

‘Dimanche Superbe’. It doesn’t quite have the same ring to it as ‘Super Sunday’, does it? Even the Germans get ‘SuperSonntag’ but the French, it seems, must settle for something altogether less enticing. That aside, it was certainly a Dimanche that threw up superbe results for Bordeaux, Montpellier and Marseille, and somewhat derailed the challenge of Lyon and Lille.

Four of France’s finest clubs were pitted against each other last weekend in a battle royal for top spot in the league, and it was Bordeaux that emerged victorious. Last Sunday they faced a Lille side that were still reeling from their Europa League exit the previous week at the hands of Liverpool - a tie they lost 3-1 on aggregate having been 1-0 up after the first leg.

Indeed the likelihood of Bordeaux suffering from Lille’s intent to make amends looked all the more likely after 23 minutes when Belgian midfielder Eden Hazard scored his fifth of the season. Little did Lille know it was to be their only decent chance of the game and one which woke Bordeaux from their long slumber.

Shortly before half time, Bordeaux defender Michaël Ciani volleyed in to equalise for the home side before Jussiê put them in front from the penalty spot mid-way through the second half. The penalty itself came about after Ricardo Costa had fouled Marouane Chamakh thus earning him a second yellow card and consequent dismissal. Had Graham Poll been officiating, Costa might have stood a chance, but alas he wasn’t that lucky.

Taking full advantage of their numerical superiority, Bordeaux finished the game as a contest ten minutes later through Yoann Gorucuff and with it retained their top billing in the table. They still haven’t shaken off Montpellier, however, after Valenciennes were beaten 2-1. Rene Girard’s men avoided a third straight draw thanks to Victor Hugo Montano (picking up his first goal for a month) and a deflected free kick from Joris Marveaux. In a close encounter, Valenciennes deservedly picked up a consolation goal courtesy of Tunisian Ben Khalfallah, but with 20 minutes remaining, an equaliser couldn’t be found.

So Montpellier stay level on points at the top with Les Girondins, but the latter have a game in hand and thirteen more goals in the ‘GD’ column. Auxerre also kept the heat on with a 2-1 win over Le Mans, and it was man of the moment Ireneusz Jelen who popped up again to help AJA on their way.

The Pole, scoring his tenth goal of the season, was guilty of not making more of the many chances he had in the game. It was therefore perhaps fortunate for him and his team that Benoit Pedretti was able to see off a strong Le Mans fightback with a 90th minute winner which, if only for a few hours, put Auxerre top of Ligue 1 on Saturday night. As it is, they return to third place, just a point behind the top two and having played a game more than Bordeaux (as most teams have).

The other big showdown last Sunday saw Lyon and Marseille face each other at the Stade Vélodrome with many fans only too happy to recall the 5-5 draw which ensued the last time they faced each other last November. There was to be no repeat this time, unsurprisingly, but at least we had an outright winner in the shape of Didier Deschamps’ Marseille.

After a goalless first half in which Lyon exerted some early pressure and even hit a post, Marseille fought their way back and took the lead after 67 minutes through a deflected Charles Kabore shot. Lyon didn’t equalise until ten minutes from the end when Kim Kallstrom’s free kick was headed in by Bafetimbi Gomis, but there was still time for Marseille to get a second decisive goal when Taye Taiwo took two attempts to put the ball past Hugo Lloris in the Lyon goal.

That 2-1 win puts Marseille up to fourth in the table, three points behind Bordeaux with a game in hand and crucially a goal difference that’s only three less than the leaders. If Marseille ever get round to playing that game in hand they’ve had practically all season, we may yet see some fireworks.

Lyon, meanwhile, slip to sixth – not the first time they’ve slipped so low this season – and were it not for a decent chance to reach the Champions League Final, they’d be possibly looking at a campaign which sees them fail to qualify for Europe in 2010/11. They still have the chance to gain something from this season, however, beginning with the visit of bottom club Grenoble this weekend, but there’s much hard work to be done for Claude Puel and his team.

At the other end of the table, Boulogne doubled their pleasure by following up last week’s all too rare win with another – this time at home to Lorient. Damien Marcq scored for the strugglers and with the added assistance of an own goal by Laurent Koscielny, they ran out 2-0 victors to go above Le Mans into 18th place.

Nice also bagged three points to pull further away from the teams at the bottom, winning 1-0 at home to PSG. Eric Roy can now claim to have guided his team to two wins in his first two games since taking over from Didier Ollé-Nicolle, and better still he’s built up a nine point gap between his team and Boulogne.

Elsewhere, Saint Etienne seem content to remain one place above the bottom three, this week getting a third consecutive draw 0-0 against Nancy. Lens made it six on-the-trot unbeaten with a goalless draw against Sochaux, while Rennes are up to seventh on the strength of a third straight win - 4-1 over Toulouse, featuring two goals from Asamoah Gyan.

And that’s about it for this week. Next weekend sees Bordeaux keep their hopes of winning a triple alive when they play Marseille in the Final of the Coupe de la Ligue, so don’t be surprised if Montpellier or Auxerre take their chance to go top for a week. The former faces Lille in the top league game of the weekend, so expect to hear news of that and the League Cup Final in next week’s Jeu Du Jour.

Until then, it’s à bientôt...

Full results and standings available here

Sound of Football Episode 32 - Ligue 1 and Bundesliga

In a change to our usual programming, Graham's absence gives us an excuse to round up the comings and goings in the Bundesliga and Ligue 1.

We very much welcome your views and ask you to contribute to the podcast. As ever, we invite you to have a listen and let us know what you think.

You can catch the podcast here or if you right-click on that link, you can download the MP3. Alternatively, you can subscribe via the your reader of choice or via our iTunes feed.

Jeu du Jour Week 28: Bordeaux get away with it - again

We’d like to be able to tell you some exciting developments in the Ligue 1 title race this week, but truth be known, we can’t. Once again, the leaders Bordeaux have failed to win a match and once again their slip went largely unpunished.

Last weekend, Les Girondins travelled to Monaco in a bid to re-open the gap on the chasing pack and they could have done so had Laurent Blanc taken a slightly more courageous approach to his team selection. Actually we’re being a little cynical – Blanc was no doubt aware of the upcoming second leg of Bordeaux’s Champions League match against Olympiakos (taking place tonight), so the decision to leave Chamakh, Gourcuff and Chalmé was probably to be expected.

As it is, this was probably a good chance to gamble on resting some of Bordeaux’s better players as Monaco once again showed the sort of form that’s seen them score just one goal in their last four games. Even so, Blanc was unable to gain all three points despite bringing on his better players late on, so the points were shared.

Lucky for him that most of the teams just behind Bordeaux in the table also drew at the weekend (much like last week). Arguably the big game on Saturday was between the teams in second and third place, Montpellier and Auxerre, and the latter’s fine form against the top teams continued as this one finished 1-1.

After last week’s heroics against Bordeaux, Ireneusz Jelen failed to hit the back of the net against Montpellier, and heaven knows he had plenty of chances. Instead, it was down to the Kenyan Dennis Oliech to open the scoring just before the interval but the away side’s lead was to last little more than twenty minutes when Alberto Costa equalised half way through the second half.

Having already beaten Bordeaux 3-1 this season, Lyon would have been no more of a threat to Saint Etienne and so it proved when Christophe Galtier’s side earned a creditable 1-1 draw at the Stade Gerland. They even took the lead in the 38th minute through the 20-year-old starlet Emmanuel Rivière and held onto it until 11 minutes from time when Lisandro Lopez scored his third goal in four LIgue 1 games to equalise for Lyon.

Like Claude Puel’s team, Marseille dropped a place in the table because of their draw - another 1-1, this time away to Toulouse. On recent form, Didier Deschamps could have expected a win here, but the home side fair old threw everything but the kitchen sink at Marseille and were it not for their goalkeeper Steve Mandanda, the visitors might have gone home with nothing.

As it is, Marseille joined this week’s One Point Club – a not-so-select bunch of teams that Lille decided to have nothing to do with on account of their 1-0 win at home to bottom side Grenoble. That said, Lille had to rely on an own goal by Botjan Cesar to gain all three points, but it was enough to take the northerners up to fourth spot ahead of their do-or-die Europa League match against Liverpool tomorrow night.

Grenoble will rue their gifted goal after next-to-bottom club Boulogne FINALLY won another game to extend the gap between the two teams to six points. The win – 3-1 over Nancy - was only Boulogne’s fourth of the season and was their first in the league since December 6th. It was also their biggest win of the season, and one which takes them to within just one point of Le Mans who lost 1-0 to Nice.

All that relegation shenanigans means Le Mans, Boulogne and Grenoble remain in the bottom three – a common sight of late – with a seven-point gap to bridge before reaching Saint Etienne in 17th. Nice climb above them into 16th, a point ahead, then there’s a five-point gap before you get to Lens in 15th.

For the record, Lens, last year’s Ligue 2 champions, lost 1-0 to Lorient on Saturday while PSG thrashed Sochaux 4-1 and Rennes won 2-0 away to Valenciennes.

And that’s about all for this week’s Jeu Du Jour. Watch out for a couple of eye-catching matches at the top of the table next weekend as Bordeaux play host to Lille and Lyon travel to Marseille. Will there be more draws? Probably, and if there are, we’ll tell you all about them next time. For now though, it’s à bientôt...

Full results and standings available here

Jeu du Jour Week 26: Approaching menace

If Bordeaux haven’t yet been feeling the warm breath of the chasing pack down their necks so far this season, they probably soon will. For the second successive week, their Ligue 1 match was postponed and while Montpellier failed to draw level with them on points the first time around, they did the second. Not only that, but Lyon and Marseille continued their recent fine run of form, thus leaving Les Girondins in their most vulnerable state since the season began.

An almost guaranteed three-pointer was on the cards for Laurent Blanc’s men as they prepared to take on relegation strugglers Le Mans but a warning of severe storms put paid to their trip north, thus leaving them to wonder how close their fiercest rivals would get at the weekend.

The answer turned out to be ‘very’. Montpellier bounced back from their shock 1-0 defeat to Saint Etienne last week by beating Rennes 3-0 – a result which finally sees them draw level on points with Bordeaux at the top. Admittedly there’s the small matter of two games in hand and 13 more goals in the GD column to bear in mind, but the psychological effect of that points gap finally being closed will weigh heavily on the Bordeaux players.

Adding further pressure, Lyon are now up to third in the table following a 2-0 win over Nice. Their seventh game on-the-trot unbeaten, Lyon are showing that 2010 is an altogether better year for them, thanks in no small part to Lisandro Lopez who opened the scoring on Saturday with his 18th goal of the season.

Add to that Marseille’s 3-0 shut-out of Paris Saint Germain (through goals by Ben Arfa, Gonzalez and Cheyrou) and you have a strong resurgence of the two teams that were always supposed to provide the biggest challenge to Bordeaux but have thus far looked somewhat short of being ‘big three’ material.

There’s always one team near the top that slips up every week, however, and this week it was Lille. They were beaten 2-1 by Auxerre – their first defeat at home since the opening day of the season. Roy Contout was on hand with both the away team’s goals as Lille slipped two places to fifth, just one place above Auxerre.

At the other end, Grenoble drew to within three points of Boulogne when they picked up their first away win of the season, a 2-0 victory over Nancy. The home side have won just one league game since the start of the year and are falling faster Didier Drogba on a pair of greased football boots made of banana skins.

Boulogne’s sorry Ligue 1 campaign can’t end soon enough after losing their 16th game of 26 so far against Monaco. Admittedly the 1-0 scoreline cast Boulogne in a better light than their opponents, but only three points in 2010 tells its own story and a miracle is the best they can reasonably hope for to save them now.

As we’ve already heard, Le Mans didn’t play and they’ll have to wait until April 14th for the chance to play the reigning champions. Saint Etienne, meanwhile, continue to stutter following a 1-0 defeat at Valenciennes. Les Verts stay two places above the relegation zone and have a six-point gap to make up before they reach the next team above them in the table, Sochaux.

Speaking of which, Les Lionceaux lost out 1-0 at Lorient on Saturday while Toulouse beat Lens by the same scoreline to retain their mid-table position.

And all that means we have six teams capable of mounting a strong challenge for the title and five teams at the bottom capable of being relegated.

Yes, things are getting serious now in Ligue 1, and as we enter the final third of the season, you can rest assured you’ll be kept up to date on who’s doing what right to the end with Jeu du Jour. For now though, as we leave you with all the stats, it's à bientôt...

Full results and standings available here

Jeu du Jour Week 25: While the cat's away...

Those jolly nice people at the LFP gave Bordeaux last weekend off to give them more time to prepare for their Champions League match against Olympiakos last night. It was a generous act which seemed to benefit almost everybody. Bordeaux won 1-0 at Olympiakos, Auxerre (the team they due to play) had a rare chance to get some R&R, and Lille, Lyon and Marseille were given the chance to put some pressure on the leaders, which they duly did.

Montpellier, sadly, had to rip-up their letter of hearty gratitude to the LFP when they were beaten 1-0 by Saint Etienne. Had they won, they'd have gone level with Bordeaux on points at the top of the table - instead, the relegation strugglers brought an end to Montpellier's run of six consecutive games unbeaten and gave their own efforts to remain in Ligue 1 a leg up. Les Verts are now six points clear of the drop, thanks in no small part to Emmanuele Riviere's fourth goal of the season which takes them up to 16th place.

Rene Girard's side will rue their rare mistake as the chasing pack all picked up wins in their respective matches. Lille left it late to beat Rennes 2-1 but nonetheless drew to within a point of Montpellier. One negative note for them, however, was the inury to top scorer Gervinho which could yet undermine the excellent progress they've made so far.

Lyon appear to have finally clicked back into winning ways. They're now unbeaten in six league games going back to mid-January, their latest being a comprehensive 4-0 over the abject Sochaux. Michel Bastos boosted his tally for the season by grabbing a hat-trick while Lisandro Lopez got the fourth goal in the last ten minutes. They now face three games against relegation strugglers before a trip to Marseille in late March, so expect more wins in the immediate future.

Speaking of Marseille, Mamadou Niang proved that anything Bastos can do, he can do just as well after he also scored three in his team's 3-1 win over Nancy. Not only are Marseille now breathing down the neck of Montpellier, but they've still got that ever-present game in hand to come too. Like Lyon, they also have some relatively easy (if not downright winable) games coming up which Bordeaux won't want to be made aware of.

Not so long ago, Monaco were making a belated surge up the table and giving the top teams something to think about, but that's all ancient history now following their 3-0 defeat against Lens on Saturday. It was the principality's third consecutive defeat in the league and sees them drop to 7th place having played a game more than Auxerre and Marseille directly above them. Lens, meanwhile, rise three places up the table to put some daylight between themselves and the relegation zone.

In other news, there were 1-0 wins a-plenty among those teams we've yet to mention. PSG got their first league win in three when they beat Toulouse 1-0 at home. Valenciennes climbed three places to 8th with a 1-0 over bottom club Grenoble, while fellow bottom-dwellers Le Mans picked up only their fifth win of the season by beating Boulogne by the same scoreline. Even Nice gave their relegation battle a shot in the arm with a 1-0 win over an inconsistent Lorient side.

Well that's just about all for Jeu Du Jour for this week, except to say that the French League Cup Final takes place on March 27th between Marseille and Bordeaux, and we'll be telling you who got their hands on that Holy Grail-shaped trophy nearer the time. For now though, it's à bientôt...

Full results and standings available here

Jeu du Jour Week 24: Up for the Coupe

If there's one thing that Bordeaux's got, it's bouncebackability. Perpetually leading from the front, they're constantly being touted as frail and susceptible to the latest surge from this week's favoured title challengers, yet they always recover from the occasional dropped point here or there to maintain the status quo.

For a few weeks now, Montpellier have been the team grabbing the headlines as they've not only reached but held onto second spot in the Ligue 1 table. Their sixth win in the last seven games came at the weekend as they squeezed past lowly Grenoble, yet for all their persistence, Bordeaux continue to keep Rene Girard's men at arm's length.

Those not in the know have made much of Bordeaux's recent stutter - knocked out of the Coupe de France last week and without a win in their two league games before the weekend - yet this has already happened several times this season to no great effect. Les Girondins returned to fine form on Sunday with a 3-1 win over Saint Etienne and still lead the table by three points.

OK, so that lead was nearer eight just before Christmas, but the point is that Bordeaux's consistency has seen off the challenge of all those who seek to knock them off their perch. Whether the miraculous form of last season's Ligue 2 runners-up Montpellier will also dry up remains to be seen, but my money's on Laurent Blanc winning a second successive title this season just as it was way back in Week 1.

Like Montpellier, Lille are retaining some credibility by maintaining their challenge at the top. They remain in third spot having bagged a 3-1 win over Boulogne, two goals coming from Polish striker Ludovic Obraniak. Rudi Garcia will be heartened to see his team keeping their noses in front of Lyon and Marseille where the league's concerned, especially having been knocked out of the French Cup and League Cup in the last week of January.

Boulogne, sadly, look dead certs for relegation having only won three games out of a possible 24 in Ligue 1 thus far. Their last victory came against Lens over two months ago and it pains us to say it but a return to Ligue 2 is almost inevitable now.

We mentioned Lyon and Marseille a moment ago and they're just one and two points behind Lille respectively. Both teams won in unconvincing fashion at the weekend - Lyon with a single goal over struggling Lens and Marseille beating Monaco 2-1 thanks to a late own goal by Nicolas Ndoubena. At this point we'd be obliged to say how frail both teams are looking this season, but as Lyon proved by beating Real Madrid in the Champions League this week, Ligue 1 is merely one of many pies they have their fingers in and success perhaps lies elsewhere for them. Marseille are playing Copenhagen in the Europa League as this is being written and a win looks quite likely for them.

Auxerre, the form team before Christmas, were inexplicably beaten 5-0 by Grenoble almost a fortnight ago - something akin to Muhammad Ali being knocked out by the bloke off the Mr Muscle adverts - but AJA got back to winning ways with a 1-0 win over Rennes. The goal was a bit special too, coming as it did from a long range effort by another Polish striker on form, Ireneusz Jelen.

Elsewhere, Toulouse still can't seem to get into the high gears as they flounder mid-table. Their 1-1 draw with Lorient at the weekend, though nothing to be ashamed of, was the sort of result you feel they'd have done better with last season. PSG, meanwhile, continue to defy those 'experts' who had them down as a top six side for this campaign, this week drawing 0-0 against Nancy to go *up* to 14th.

While on the subject of mid-table ordinariness, Valenciennes climb back into the top half having beaten Nice 2-1. A small consolation given they were where Lille were towards the start of the season. Nice remain without a win since November and are well and truly embroiled in a relegation battle, along with Le Mans who will be grateful for the single point they got from a goalless draw against Sochaux (about whom nothing interesting has been said all season in Jeu du Jour and for good reason. Charlie Davis even had a car crash in an attempt to make Sochaux a more interesting team, and if you want our opinion, it wasn't worth the effort.)

So going into Week 25, Bordeaux lead at the top on 51 points, followed by Montpellier on 48, then it’s Lille on 44, Lyon on 43 and Marseille on 42 points but with a game in hand. At the bottom it’s Grenoble on 10 points, then above them it’s Boulogne on 16, Le Mans on 17, Nice on 23 points and Saint Etienne on 23 as well.

And what of the Cup competitions? Well the Coupe de France Round of 16 was played about a week ago, and in it Monaco knocked out Bordeaux 2-0 to take on the mantle of favourites to win the trophy. Boulogne, in direct contrast to their league form, reached the last eight with a 1-0 win over Ligue 2 side Guingamp while Auxerre cruised to a 4-0 win over Plabennec – an amateur fourth tier side from the west of France.

PSG made somewhat heavier weather of their match against amateur opposition, scraping through 1-0 against Vesoul, but in case you’re wondering whether the ‘giant-killer’ legend is alive and well over the Channel, you’re in luck. Rennes came a cropper, losing 1-0 to another fourth tier minnow, Quevilly.

The draw for the quarter finals has been made, and the fixtures (to be played on March 23rd and 24th) are as follows:

Lens v Saint Etienne
Monaco v Sochaux
Quevilly v Boulogne
Auxerre v Paris Saint Germain

The Coupe de la Ligue, meanwhile, is set to reach its climax when the Final goes ahead on March 27th and reassuringly (for people that like to see big teams fighting it out for the silverware), it’ll be between Bordeaux and Marseille.

Bordeaux’s route to the Final wasn’t, on paper at least, the most difficult in that they beat Le Mans, Sedan of Ligue 2 in the quarters and Lorient in the semis, but Marseille had a much trickier set of obstacles to clear. They defeated an improving Saint Etienne in the Round of 16, then won in the dying minutes to beat Lille in the quarter finals before an extra time win over Toulouse sealed their place in the Final.

So there you are. Lots going on in France. Let’s hope next time I’m a bit more punctual in updating you… For now though, it's à bientôt...

Full results and standings available here

Jeu du Jour Week 20: Don't mention The Big Three

I've made a decision. From now on, I'm not going to refer to Bordeaux, Lyon and Marseille as 'The Big Three'. It just ain't right anymore. Oh sure, Bordeaux are still looking every inch the champions they were at the end of last season, but as for the other two... forget it.

Lyon and Marseille, much like every other team in Ligue 1 (apart from Laurent Blanc's commanding band of cavaliers) can't helping dropping points every other game. That in itself wouldn't be so bad if they could actually beat Bordeaux every once in a while, but they can't even do that.

Last Sunday threw up an opportunity for Marseille to steal three points from Les Girondins at the Stade Chaban Delmas, but having only won there four times beforehand, Marseille wouldn't have been optimistic ahead of the game. Their last win at Bordeaux was back in 1977 and with Blanc's men going through a decidedly apt purple patch of late, a win was probably unlikely – especially when Marouane Chamakh put the home side 1-0 up just before half time.

Marseille offered little to suggest they were genuine title contenders this season and only a freak set of circumstances gave them a chance to share the points here. Bordeaux's keeper Cedric Carrasso went off injured early in the second half and less than a quarter of an hour later, Marc Planus was sent off for Bordeaux after a nasty looking challenge on Mamadou Niang. As it is, he shouldn't have been sent off as Niang wasn't the last man to beat, but even so, Marseille finally worked everything to their advantage with a goal nine minutes from the end by Benoit Cheyrou.

It was here that Didier Deschamps' side realised they could actually get the win and consequently through everything including l'évier de cuisine at Bordeaux in the dying stages of the game, but to no avail. The game ended 1-1 and with it Marseille remained a full eleven points behind their opponents in the title race.

Lyon, to their credit, actually won for a change last Saturday. Though not filling everyone with confidence, they earned a 2-0 victory at Nancy to make it five wins there on the trot. Cris and Maxime Gonalons got their names on the scoresheet, but only with eleven minutes left on the clock – by which time many Lyon fans were wondering why they'd bothered making the long journey up the east side of the country.

Anyway, Lille continued to make a myth of the B** T**** by picking up their seventh consecutive win as they beat PSG 3-1. Ludovic Obraniak, Lille's French born midfielder for Poland got the game underway with an excellent long-range shot after just five minutes and there could have been many more were it not for some decent goalkeeping from PSG's Apoula Edel, but Lille didn't extend their lead until the second half.

When they did, Obraniak turned provider for Florent Balmont to head in the second before Franck Beria made it three after 68 minutes and that was the game effectively sewn up. Amid heavy rain for much of the time, Mevlut Erding's consolation goal seven minutes from the end did little to change the mood for Antoine Kombouaré's team as Lille stayed second in the table.

Even Montpellier are showing they're serious about usurping Lyon and Marseille. Admittedly their form just before Christmas was a little shaky, but a narrow 1-0 win at home to Nice last weekend helped steady the nerves and kept last year's Ligue 2 runners-up in third place.

At the bottom, Grenoble's encouraging turning of the corner a few weeks back seems to have ended. They had a big six-pointer when Saint Etienne came to visit last Saturday, but the away team look to be thriving under new coach Christophe Galtier and the points went their way.

Arguably star of the show was Saint Etienne's 19-year-old striker Emmanuel Riviere who set up the first goal (scored by Loic Perrin) and then scored the second himself with a delightful chip. Just a minute later and with half time fast approaching, Grenoble were given a lifeline of sorts when Cedric Varrault put the ball in his own net, but nothing more was forthcoming from Grenoble. Even Danijel Ljuboja passed up the chance to equalise when he headed wide with an open goal staring at him in the last ten minutes so Grenoble remained rooted to the bottom as Saint Etienne climbed out of the relegation zone.

Ironically it was Le Mans – the only other team apart from Les Verts to lose their coach so far this season – who took their place when they lost 3-0 at home to Lorient, but that's all so 'last weekend.' This midweek has seen another round of games played and here's the long and the short of what's happened.

At the top, Bordeaux predictably handed out a sound beating as they won 3-1 at Grenoble, but they had to come from behind to do it. They were also aided by the sending off early in the second half of Grenoble's Jimmy Juan, a move that undeniably settled down the likes of Chamakh, Gouffran and Cavenaghi who all got their names on the scoresheet in the remaining period for the visitors.

Lyon took a similarly late approach to bagging three goals as they won 3-1 at Lorient last night. Pierre Ducasse opened the scoring for Lorient just before the half hour mark and it looked for all the world like they might be heading for a third straight win in the league, but Lisandro Lopez equalised after 63 minutes before Kim Kallstrom grabbed a brace in the last twenty.

To keep the theme going of 'coming back from behind', Marseille completed the sequence as they beat Le Mans 2-1 at home. Former Liverpool defender Antony Le Tallec put the relegation strugglers into an unlikely sixteen minutes in, but Mamadou Niang gave the home side something to cheer when he put Marseille back in front with the help of a second half penalty.

It was also a very good night for Montpellier. They won 1-0 at Lens, the team that pipped them to the Ligue 2 title last year, and on the strength of it went second in the table after Lille lost 2-1 to Sochaux.

At the other end of the table, Saint Etienne earned a creditable, if goalless draw at home to Rennes, while Boulogne continue to seek their first win in the league since early December after losing 2-0 at home to Valenciennes.

All of which means Bordeaux have a whopping eight-point lead at the top ahead of this season's real surprise package Montpellier. They in turn are two points ahead of Lille in third and three ahead of Marseille in fourth. Marseille are one of four teams tied on 36 points – the others being Lyon (5th), Monaco (6th) and Auxerre (7th) – but L'OM have a game in hand.

At the bottom, Grenoble have a grand total of seven points out of a possible 63. Above them are Boulogne on 15 points, Le Mans on 16 and Saint Etienne on 20 points.

And that's about all from this week's bumper round-up of Ligue 1. We'll have a more lingering look at all the important action next week but for now, it's à bientôt...

Full results and standings available here

Jeu du Jour: Winter catch-up

So here we are again and before we go on, an apology.

Some of you will have noticed that our regular Jeu Du Jour articles suddenly stopped in mid-December for no apparent reason. In actual fact, there *was* a reason – namely that we had less time available during the Christmas period, and most of that was taken up producing our daily Advent Calendar posts. For that we're very sorry but if you'll forgive us, we're back now and ready to look at what happened while we were away.

Our foray into yuletide-related output caused us to miss three weeks worth of Ligue 1 action, and in that time Bordeaux cemented their position at the top of the table by winning all three of their games. Before going on to beat Lorient and Toulouse, they edged out Lyon 1-0 thanks to a late Marouane Chamakh goal. It was Lyon's fifth straight defeat at the time and things didn't get much better when they went on to draw 1-1 at Monaco and lose 2-1 at home to fellow title-chasers Montpellier.

So with Bordeaux leading the way at the top and Lyon slipping to sixth, the other member of the Big 3, Marseille, were struggling to find any consistency too. A 2-0 defeat of lowly Boulogne may have led to fans of Didier Deschamps' side thinking they'd win by a similar score against another struggling team, Saint Etienne, but instead a goalless draw was all they could muster.

Coming only four days after the sacking of Les Verts' coach Alain Perrin (remember him, Portsmouth fans?), the point was appreciated more by Saint Etienne than Marseille who ended their pre-season campaign with a 2-0 defeat against a resurgent Auxerre. It leaves L'OM fourth in the table behind 3rd-placed Montpellier (still doing remarkably well for a newly-promoted side) and Rudi Garcia's Lille who have charged up to second spot.

Lille, a top-10 team for as many years as anyone can care to remember, finished fifth last season and look set to match that after a decidedly below-par start to their campaign. Eleven goals scored and none conceded in their three pre-Christmas games (including four in an impressive win over Monaco) puts them unexpectedly higher in the table than many would have predicted.

At the other end, only Le Mans escaped the festive season with any real hope to cling onto. A change of coach brought about by the sacking of Paulo Duarte (replaced by Arnaud Cormier) just before we signed off for the year helped Le Mans get out of the relegation zone. A 2-1 win over Valenciennes and a 1-1 draw at home to Monaco was enough to make Saint Etienne finally drop into the bottom three to join Boulogne and Grenoble who all picked up just one point from a possible nine.

At the half-way stage, the bottom four are a full six points adrift of the teams directly above them and there's only six points covering Lens (14th) up to Marseille (4th). As we've already mentioned many a time this season, consistency is a key factor and with so many teams unable to string together more than a couple of wins at a time, we could be seeing a fair few changes in the table from now until May.

Elsewhere, in the Champions League, Bordeaux were an absolute revelation in topping their First Round group ahead of Juventus and Bayern Munich. Five wins and a draw from their six Group A matches helped them finish a full six points ahead of Bayern – the biggest winning margin of any team in one of the most difficult groups going. They now have an excellent chance of reaching the last eight as they prepare to meet Olympiakos in the first knockout round next month.

Lyon almost matched Bordeaux for heroics as they finished second in Group E behind Fiorentina and crucially ahead of Liverpool. A 2-1 win at Anfield was possibly their most important result in a decent opening campaign, but with Real Madrid now blocking their way to the latter stages, few would put money on Lyon to do so, especially given their recent poor form.

Of the three French teams involved in the Champions League, Marseille were the only ones not to progress from their group, but with Real and Milan to deal with in Group C, it's no wonder the challenge proved to be too difficult to overcome. A 1-1 draw in Milan and a win double over Zurich are about as much as Marseille had to look back on this time around.

That said, Marseille do still have a Europa League contest to take part in, and they'll be up against Copenhagen in the Round of 32 in February. Joining them will be Lille who finished second in Group B in the previous round behind Valencia to set up a two-legged tie against Fenerbahce. Toulouse, sadly, couldn't maintain their league form of last season and crashed out of Group J behind reigning champions Shakhtar Donetsk and Club Brugge.

As the second half of the season gets underway, we'll be bringing you the latest news from the closing stages of the Coupe de France and the Coupe de la Ligue along with the usual Ligue 1 happenings too, but for now, consider yourself back up to date with all things French. At least football-wise, that is.

Full Ligue 1 results and standings here.

Jeu du Jour Week 15: The Win in the Minnows

With the half-way point in the season almost here, the top of the Ligue 1 table has a distinctly strange look to it.

Beyond Bordeaux, sitting in first place (as they have been for most of this season), you'll find last season's Ligue 2 runners-up, Montpellier, followed by Valenciennes – a team that only got promotion to Ligue 1 in 2006.

And if you'll allow us a moment to be smug, it seems Yours Truly's prediction at the start of the season is coming good - namely that Bordeaux are the team acting the least irrationally as they fight to win the 2009/10 title.

Not that Bordeaux are exempt from their own occasional lapses in concentration, but Les Girondins seem to be back in the zone again, even leading the likes of Juventus and Bayern Munich a merry dance in the Champions League.

Their latest win in the league came on Saturday, a narrow 1-0 victory over PSG at the Stade Jacques Chaban-Delmas. Bordeaux looked the better team throughout although the Parisians at times looked dangerous, but it was Jaroslav Plasil who scored the all-important goal 24 minutes in to give his side all three points.

PSG's mini-revival comes to an end, therefore, but they stay in the top half of the table by the skin of their teeth. Montpellier are doing a great job of putting the pressure on Bordeaux, however. They're back up to second spot having beaten a spirited Le Mans side at the weekend. Karim Ait Fana gave Montpellier an early lead and when Mathieu Dossevi was sent off for the visitors, it looked like plain sailing for Rene Girard's team.

Unfortunately for them, 10-man Le Mans came out fighting in the second half and managed to grab an equaliser through Anthony Le Tallec. Battling hard, Le Mans could sadly only stay on level terms for 11 minutes as Lilian Compan made it 2-1 with 17 minutes remaining, and that's how the game ended.

It was a bad week for them to lose as the two teams below them in the table both picked up wins – and yes, that includes Grenoble! Mark the date in your diary, folks – Sunday 6 December 2009: the day Grenoble finally picked up three points in a Ligue 1 match this season.

In all seriousness, it's been on the cards as GF38 finally got into scoring ways with draws in each of their three games leading up to last weekend. The fact that they got their first win against Toulouse was something of a surprise, however. Toulouse have been comfortably sat in mid-table for a while, albeit distracted by a gruelling Europa League campaign, and should have picked up at least a point against their counterparts.

As it is, Grenoble looked hell-bent on winning this one and threw everything they could muster at Toulouse. Among the flurry of attacking play that went on for much of the game, Grenoble went close through a Nassim Akrour shot that hit the bar. Olivier Blondel made a fine save to deny Daisuke Matsui from the rebound, but it merely spurred them on all the more to find a winning goal.

In the end, it fell to Nicolas Dieuze to do the honours ten minutes from time, blasting in a shot from close range to end Grenoble's run of 19 consecutive games without a win. Amazingly, they're now only three points behind Le Mans who themselves dropped a place after Boulogne picked up only their third win of the season at home to fellow strugglers Lens. The game ended 2-1 and featured an eventful first half in which Boulogne's Mame N’Diaye was sent off after 18 minutes and Bira Dembele gave Lens the lead through an own goal after 22 minutes.

Having recovered from such a torrid opening period, Boulogne then rallied round to equalise through Zimbabwean Ovidi Karuru five minutes before the break and then took the lead through another own goal. This time the man at fault was Lens' defender Romain Sartre who managed to head a cross from Alexandre Cuvillier into his own net and that was how the scoreline stayed for the remainder of the match. Boulogne rise one place to 18th on the strength of it and will no doubt be hoping for more of the same in the coming weeks if they're to avoid relegation.

Back at the top end of the table, it was Lyon who made the most notable slip-up, losing 4-3 at Lille. Despite a first half hat-trick from Lisandro Lopez and an excellent goalkeeping display from Hugo Lloris, Lyon were unable to overcome their hosts and were eventually undone by a sucker punch right at the very end.

Having pulled back from being 3-1 down at half time, Lille entered the dying moments of the match level at 3-3, but they took all the points thanks to Gervinho's second goal of the night and his thirteenth of the season in the 90th minute of the game.

With that, Lille finally reach the top half of the table while Lyon remain without a win since the end of October. Making best use of that Lyon stumble are Valenciennes who climb to third after an excellent 3-1 win over Monaco on Saturday. VA have lost only one game in seven now and are well worth their place among the league's elite as the Christmas break approaches.

Marseille are also staying in touch with the leading pack thanks to a 3-1 away win at Nice. Two goals in the last 13 minutes finally secured the points for Deschamps' men, so they stay in seventh position – six points behind Bordeaux but with a game in hand.

Auxerre continue to tumble after they reached top spot a couple of weeks ago. A surprising 3-1 defeat at home to Nancy sees them drop to fifth while another team recently troubling the leaders, Lorient, also dropped a place when they lost 1-0 at Rennes.

Last (and probably least) this week are Saint Etienne who played out a 0-0 draw at home to Sochaux. Those boys in green look set on making 17th spot in the table their own this season, but they'd better watch out – Boulogne and Grenoble are on their tail...

Jeu du Jour Week 14: Coupet breaks down

If we've convinced you of nothing else over the last thirteen weeks, it's that the top spot in Ligue 1 is something of a poisoned chalice. So it proved once again this week when Auxerre, form team of the moment and leaders after seven consecutive victories, were dislodged from first place by Paris Saint Germain.

A tight match saw the team from the capital rise to the challenge of beating AJA by matching them tackle for tackle and shot for shot at the Parc des Princes. With little to choose between them, it was PSG who took what was to be a decisive lead in the 67th minute when Jérémy Clément nicely headed in a cross from Brazilian defender Ceará.

The match remained close right to the very end but it was PSG that claimed all three points. One other notable incident from the match was the terrible injury suffered by PSG's 37-year-old keeper Grégory Coupet. He broke a bone in his ankle while running for the ball as it went off for a corner, caused, it seems, by his studs getting caught in the turf. Coupet fell awkwardly and in doing so snapped a bone in his lower-left leg – a scene which was gruesome enough to prevent us from giving you the gory details of the aftermath. Needless to say everyone in the world of French football and beyond wishes the keeper a speedy recovery from such a horrific incident.

That defeat for Auxerre allowed Bordeaux to return to the top again after they got their first win in three against Nancy on Sunday.

On a wet night, Bordeaux made light work of the home side who had little to offer in response to goals from Fernando, Wendel and Yoan Gouffran. Wendel's goal stood out amongst the three as the Brazilian finished off a nice move with a lovely lob over Gennaro Bracigliano in the Nancy goal.

So with Auxerre dropping to third, the champions find themselves back on top as Nancy drop into the bottom five. The team from Tomblaine have finished in the bottom half of the table for three of the last four seasons and could find themselves flirting with relegation this time around if they can't improve their consistency.

Lyon continue to hang onto Bordeaux's coat tails by the skin of their teeth after their 1-1 draw at home to Rennes. Lyon have failed to beat the visitors at the Stade de Gerland over the last few years, but Rennes themselves have been in poor form of late and could have been seen as an easy three points for the former champions.

As it is, Rennes took the lead after 14 minutes when Asamoah Gyan scored his eighth goal of the season. Lyon took a while to reply to that and had to make do with entertaining the 35, 978 crowd with some entertaining football along with Rennes, but the equaliser finally arrived three minutes before half time when Lisandro Lopez scored direct from a free kick to level the scores.

As the second half progressed, the chances of either side finding a winner receded although a late chance for both teams nearly changed all that in the dying minutes. Bafetimbi Gomis saw his effort pushed onto the bar by Rennes' 17-year-old second-choice keeper Abdoulaye Diallo with only a few minutes remaining, and with that the game ended in a draw for both sides.

Rennes' coach Frédéric Antonetti didn't travel with the team to Lyon having contracted the H1N1 virus, and indeed Swine Flu continues to have an impact on the top flight in France. This week's match between Monaco and Montpellier was cancelled when three of the Montpellier squad picked up the virus, causing the match to be postponed until a later date.

Montpellier remain fifth in the table for now, though, after Valenciennes (6th) lost 4-0 away to Lille. VA's first defeat in six looked rather unlikely as both teams laboured for much of the first half, but Pierre-Alain Frau broke the deadlock three minutes before the interval to give the home side the lead.

After the break, Ivorian striker Gervinho popped up with a brace to snuff out any hopes Valenciennes had of gaining even a point before Yohan Cabaye deservedly got on the scoresheet from the penalty spot just before the end of the game.

A good win, then, for Lille but they've still not reached mid-table yet. Toulouse have, however, after their 1-0 win at home to Boulogne which leaves them 10th in the table while Boulogne's miserable run without a win since August 22nd continues.

Grenoble remain ever hopeful of catching them – albeit one point at a time – after gaining their third successive draw away to Lorient on Saturday. The match ended 2-2 and reflected well on the bottom side given their opponents had climbed to fourth in recent weeks. In fact Grenoble were only seconds away from gaining their first win of the season when Kévin Gameiro made use of a goalkeeping error two minutes into stoppage time to salvage the draw. Agonising stuff for Grenoble, but a few small signs of recovery are definitely there.

Elsewhere, Nice had their run of four straight wins curtailed in a 1-0 defeat at Sochaux despite dominating for much of the match. Marseille, meanwhile, slipped up again with a 1-0 defeat of their own away to reigning Ligue 2 champions Lens. The winning goal came in the 93rd minute from Brazilian substitute Eduardo and will be a sucker punch for Didier Deschamps' side after a gruelling 1-1 draw against Milan last week.

Marseille still have their game in hand yet to play, but on current form you wonder if they'll get any use from it. They're down to eighth now and desperately need to get a win away to Nice next weekend.

Finally, the Battle of the Basement last weekend saw Saint Etienne and Le Mans play out a 1-1 draw which sees the latter go up a place from 19th to 18th. Les Verts stay one place above the relegation zone on 14 points.

STOP PRESS... PSG earned a convincing 5-2 win at Boulogne last night, scoring four goals in nine second-half minutes having gone 1-0 down just before the interval. The win sees PSG rise to seventh in the table while Boulogne stay second from bottom.

And that's about it for another Jeu du Jour. Full results and standings can be picked up here. For now though, it's à bientôt...

Jeu du Jour Week 13: Les chaises musicales

Over the last few weeks, Jeu Du Jour has brought to your attention the incredible rise and rise of Auxerre, a team that won only one of their first six games this season but who this weekend took their place at the top of the Ligue 1 table.

It's been seven years since they've been at the French football summit, but a run of seven consecutive wins means they've now dislodged champions Bordeaux from their lofty perch.

Their incredible achievement came about following a 2-0 win over Monaco at the weekend. AJA's man of the moment Benoît Pedretti crossed for Adama Coulibaly to head in the opening goal at the end of the first half. Though Guy Lacombe's men tried to fight back, it was Auxerre who maintained their momentum and added a second through Delvin Ndinga two minutes from time in the second half.

Monaco, for their part, looked all the weaker without star striker Nenê and his absence in recent weeks has been instrumental as his side have slipped from second place a few weeks ago to eighth at present.

For Auxerre, however, there's no denying they've got to be taken seriously as a potential title winner in an ever-changing Ligue 1 season. While other teams have struggled to remain consistent, Jean Fernandez and Co. have timed their run perfectly, hitting top spot on the back of a ten-game unbeaten spell.

Bordeaux were leading the table before Saturday's games, but they lost 1-0 at home to another team showing impressive form, Valenciennes. Laurent Blanc's men were made to suffer their first defeat at home since Lyon beat them 3-1 on October 7th 2007 and it was all the more remarkable given Mamadou Samassa's goal was one of only three attempts the away side managed to get on target throughout the game.

Bordeaux were admittedly missing the talents of Yoann Gourcuff and Alou Diarra but this second consecutive defeat in the league for Les Girondins suggests a worrying need for consistency at the moment. Bordeaux drop to second in the table, a point behind Auxerre, while Valenciennes rise to sixth as they extend their current unbeaten run to five games.

Lyon were also guilty of not taking their chance to lead the table when they only drew 1-1 at bottom club Grenoble who, for the last twenty minutes or so, were playing with ten men. Lyon took a long time to string together any play of a decent standard and it wasn't until the 66th minute that they made their breakthrough.

Bafetimbi Gomis, coming on as a substitute, didn't waste any time in setting up Cesar Delgado for his second goal of the season, but their lead was to last just seven minutes. Shortly after the sending off of Laurent Courtois, Danijel Ljuboja calmly finished off a fine move to score his fifth goal of the campaign and amazingly only the sixth for Grenoble in total.

Lyon, surprisingly, showed little fight for a winner, all of which left Claude Puel's team in third place while Grenoble will feel happy at having doubled their points tally for the season.

Regular visitors to this feature will remember PSG's match against Marseille nearly a month ago was postponed due to an outbreak of Swine Flu, but the game was finally last Friday at the Stade Velodrome.

It turned out to be a straight-forward affair with Marseille winning 1-0 thanks to a goal from Gabriel Heinze, playing against his former team-mates. Marseille looked easily the better side and dominated the significant action in both halves while PSG reverted to the lame form that's permeated much of their season thus far.

That match, taking place so late on in the week as it did, precluded both sides from playing at the weekend and leaves them both a game behind everyone else in the league. As a result, PSG are now down to 13th (but be under no illusions: this is down to poor form rather than having a game in hand) while Marseille are down in 7th. If Marseille do win their game in hand, they'll find themselves up in the top three or four. The way the title challengers have been throwing away their good form this season though, I wouldn't put any money on it...

Speaking of the top of the table, Lorient and Montpellier are leading the New Wave charge as they find themselves in fourth and fifth place respectively. Lorient were 2-0 winners at Saint Etienne. Goals from Marama Vahirua and Franco Sosa inside the first 17 minutes did the damage as Lorient made it just one defeat in their last eight while Saint Etienne return to 17th spot – the position they finished in at the end of last season, avoiding relegation by the narrowest of margins.

Montpellier, however, prove to be easily the best of the three promoted sides following a 2-0 win at home to Lille. A brace from Victor Montano means Montpellier remain unbeaten at home (a claim only they and Lorient can make), and Lille continue to struggle in their efforts to reach top-half safety.

The other two promoted teams, Lens and Boulogne, remain in the bottom five, but Lens at least are summoning up some fighting spirit. Their 2-1 home win over Nancy sees them overtake Saint Etienne while Boulogne sat out the weekend's action and remain second-bottom.

The only other result to tell you about was Nice's 1-0 win over Toulouse. A Loic Remy penalty early in the second half was enough to help Nice overtake Toulouse in the table and earn their fourth straight win in the league. Another example of a team stringing together some good form – something which strangely can't be said of many supposedly better teams in Ligue 1 this season.

Finally, a brief look at what's going on in Ligue 2 and first of all we see it's Caen leading the way with a seven point lead at the top of the table. It was they who finished 18th in Ligue 1 last season but their current campaign has been a success virtually from Day 1. With 14 games under their belt, they've lost just one so far and already look like certs to return to the top flight.

In second are Le Havre, last season's bottom club in Ligue 1, then in third place and level on 25 points are Arles, a team that have come out of nowhere having finished third in last season's Championnat National (France's third tier). Nantes, the other relegated team from Ligue 1 in 2008/09 are fourth.

Apparently Arles have recently signed an agreement to become Man City's feeder club, whereupon Mark Hughes will have first pick of any of their best players while Arles get the underachievers from the City of Manchester Stadium. At this rate, Man City could be getting themselves some decent talent – possibly at the expense of a rapidly improving Arles team. Let's hope it works out mutually acceptable for both parties in the long run.

Well that just about wraps it up for another French football round-up. Full results and standings can be picked up here. For now though, it's à bientôt...

Jeu du Jour Week 12: Game of the Century

If Week 12 of the 2009/10 Ligue 1 season took a little while to warm up in terms of 'goals scored', it was well and truly ablaze by the time it ended.

And end it did with the most dramatic game seen in the French top flight for many a long year. Lyon and Marseille faced each other having gained important UEFA Champions League results last week (a 1-1 draw for Lyon over Liverpool and a 6-0 thrashing by Marseille over FC Zurich) while looking to keep pace with Bordeaux at the top of the Ligue 1 table.

The match got off to a flying start when Miralem Pjanić put Lyon in front in the 3rd minute, but an equaliser arrived for the away side eight minutes later following a header from Souleymane Diawara from a corner kick. Another three minutes later, Lyon re-took the lead through a left-footed strike from Sidney Govou after an amazing run. Then just before Half Time, Marseille again drew level through Benoît Cheyrou whose shot was spilled over the line by Lyon goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.

The scores were level at 2-2 going into the second half, but Marseille didn't take long to take the lead for the first time. Bakari Koné received the ball via a cross and poked it pass Lloris to make it 3-2 to L'OM. What happened next was rather extraordinary in the overall context of the game – more than half an hour passed by without anyone scoring.

With the crowd reeling from such an apparent lack of commitment on the part of the players, the game reignited in the 74th minute when Marseille doubled their lead through Brandão. As the clock showed just ten minutes remaining, Lyon got a goal back from Lisandro López who skipped through Marseille's defence before cheekily chipping the ball over Steve Mandanda.

Four minutes later, Lyon were awarded a penalty by referee Stéphane Bré following a handball in the box by Gabriel Heinze. The penalty was converted by Lisandro and it looked for all the world as though Lyon had scraped to a 4-4 draw, but there was yet more to come going into injury time.

In the 90th minute, Lyon took the lead again at 5-4 following some great inter-play between Lisandro, Pjanić, and Michel Bastos, resulting in Bastos getting the goal. Then, finally, with Lyon two minutes away from victory, their chances of taking all three points were ruined when a goalmouth scramble brought about an own goal by Lyon's Jérémy Toulalan. 5-5 was the score, and that, finally was that.



It's already being talked about as the 'game of the century' - *any* century, for that matter – and few people disagree. You can also talk 'til the cows come home about whether it was merely the result of two teams being unable to defend, but the truth is these were two teams that like to play good, open football and were hell bent on winning. That alone was enough reason for this most marvellous of adverts for French football.

It's ironic that if either team had won, they'd have gone top of the table – largely thanks to Bordeaux's inexplicable 2-0 defeat at Lille. Rudi Garcia's men are actually something of a bogey team for Bordeaux having not been beaten by them since 2002, but Lille's form so far this season has been nothing short of poor.

Once again, both teams were returning from European action last week – Lille losing 3-2 in Genoa while Bordeaux did a great job in beating Bayern Munich 2-0 away – but conversely it was Bordeaux that looked as though they'd now lost their sparkle.

The game itself was quite balanced between the two sides and a breakthrough goal didn't arrive until the 68th minute when Yohan Cabaye was on hand to poke in a Pierre-Alain Frau shot that was parried by Bordeaux keeper Cédric Carrasso. Les Girondins fought back all the more in search of an equaliser, but it hadn't arrived by the time Florent Balmont grabbed a late penalty to confirm Lille as 2-0 winners.

As mentioned before, however, Bordeaux remain on top, albeit with a lead reduced to one point. After that comes Lyon, then in third are Auxerre who continue to bulldoze their way through anyone in their path – so much so that they're now only two points off the top. A narrow 1-0 win away to Le Mans was enough to bag another three points, but they may consider themselves lucky after Anthony Le Tallec and Ludovic Baal hit the woodwork late on. Le Tallec also saw his 86th-minute penalty saved by Olivier Sorin to seal a thoroughly frustrating day for Le Mans.

Auxerre's place in the top three was partly made possible after Monaco could only draw against... no, surely not... it can't be... it is... GRENOBLE!!! Yes, the team that have made losing games an art form finally picked up their first point of the season at the twelfth attempt. Monaco, looking to make amends after their defeat against Bordeaux last week, were unable to get back into winning ways and had to make do with a 0-0 against the bottom club. The point gained by both teams is likely to be more valuable to Grenoble than Monaco, however Grenoble still have seven points to get before catching up with the team in 19th, Le Mans.

Boulogne's demise continues. They're now in the bottom three after a 5-0 thumping at Lorient, Kevin Gameiro and Marama Vahirua scoring two each prior to Morgan Amalfitano's injury time goal that sealed the win. Lorient climb to fifth – unexpectedly so after a couple of poor matches, but aided no doubt by the fact that the three teams above them – Marseille, Valenciennes and Marseille – all drew.

Two of them, Valenciennes and Montpellier – played out a slightly dull 1-1 stalemate at Stade Nungesser, while Toulouse's 3-2 win over Rennes maintains their fine run of form and finally sees them return to the top half of the table. Just behind them are Nancy who handed Saint Etienne a rare win, Les Verts winning 1-0 thanks to a 70th-minute Dimitri Payet strike.

Speaking of rare wins, Lens picked up their first victory in nine games by beating Sochaux 2-1 to pull themselves out of the relegation zone. Sochaux, meanwhile, will be cheered by the release from hospital of striker Charlie Davis following his recent car accident, however his return to the team won't come soon enough as they now fall to 14th place in the table.

Finally, Nice continued their upward surge by beating Paris Saint Germain 1-0 in the capital. The winning goal from Loic Remy came two minutes from time and was enough to see Nice overtake PSG in the standings by moving up to 11th.

And that just about wraps it up for another Ligue 1 round-up. Full results and standings can be picked up here. For now though, it's à bientôt...