It’s the beginning of April and the Ligue 1 title race has long been over.
Once again, the resources of Paris St Germain have blitzed the rest of the field to the extent where much focus is now on who will secure a European berth and who will survive.
To be fair to Marseille and Lens, both are enjoying fine campaigns and, but for too many draws, would probably be closer to the heels of PSG.
However, it was never going to take Einstein to predict what was likely to happen as you may have read on these pages last summer.
After all, only Monaco (2017) and Lille (2021) have managed to stop the PSG juggernaut since they became a state-owned super club.
So, while the SBOTOP Ligue 1 2023 betting odds may encourage you to bet against a late-season collapse, even you know that is unlikely.
Whether they end up with another title, though, will hardly appease many Parisiens as they again underachieve overall.
For with the French top flight lacking in the overall quality of their English, Spanish, Italian and German counterparts, it will take more than Ligue 1 2023 highlights to keep the critics at bay.
Yet another last-16 exit from the Champions League – Bayern Munich saw them off with ease – has ensured the vultures continue to soar and the futures of their main three superstars will no doubt be debated long and hard again over the months ahead.
Only this week it emerged Barcelona had been in contact with Lionel Messi about returning to the club.
Now that’s not to say Argentina’s World Cup-winning captain will leave Paris, where he is reportedly settled.
But the yearn for the club where he spent all of his career until he was sold in the summer of 2021 for financial reasons provides a big pull.
Were he to leave, it would be another blow to the image of PSG as a home for superstars, even 35-year-old ones!
Ahead of Sunday night’s clash with Lyon, sitting in an unusual 10th place, he is in line to make his 50th Ligue 1 appearance and his statistics make better reading than you might imagine.
This term he has netted 13 of his 19 league goals for the club, as well as providing as many assists to give himself 46 goal involvements in his 49 top-flight outings since his arrival.
Indeed, since full statistical analysis started in 2006/07, only fellow PSG men Neymar (72 – 47 goals, 25 assists) and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (57 – 43 goals, 14 assists) have had more goal involvements in their first half-century of appearances.
This is a return for Laurent Blanc who has overseen an improvement with only one defeat in their past nine.
They have lost some momentum by drawing their last three games but, regardless of the result, the OL boss should receive a positive reaction from fans of the capital club he coached between 2013 and 2016.
The final word, for now, goes to not an experienced, astute manager or a world superstar but a rookie making heads turn with midtable Reims.
Will Still barely needs an introduction anymore, and that alone is testament to the job the 30-year-old coach is doing with Stade de Reims!
The six-time Champions of France regularly set records back in the middle of the 20th century, but even by those exceptionally high standards, 20 consecutive league games without defeat is unheard of in more modern times.
That run ended with a 2-1 defeat at Marseille before the international break but do not bet against them enjoying a top-half finish to the campaign.
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