Preview: Matchday 10

By: Sarah | October 24th, 2009

Though most of the world will be focusing on the Classico clash between OM and PSG, here is a quick rundown on the other Ligue 1 action this weekend.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Bordeaux vs. Le Mans
Boulogne-Sur-Mer vs. Monaco
Grenoble vs. Nancy
Nice vs. Lyon
Saint-Etienne vs. Valenciennes
Sochaux vs. Lorient
Rennes vs. Montpellier

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Auxerre vs. Lille
Lens vs. Toulouse
Marseille vs. PSG

Bordeaux vs. Le Mans

Unbeaten at home in league play for two years, Bordeaux will have close to a full squad of players to select from (only Henrique is injured). Expect to see some rotation to rest some player used in the midweek .

Le Mans, 17th in the league, will be hoping to avoid the relegation zone this weekend. This will be hard since several players are expected to be unavailable for selection.

Boulogne-Sur-Mer vs. Monaco

Injury-plagued Boulogne were able to pull through at the last moment last weekend and get a draw with La Mans. But, each match seems to be a battle for this team who can’t seem to establish a positive run.

Monaco, on the other hand, have found a consistent rhythm that has brought them all the way to 4th place. They are still without their summer signing of Gudjohnsen so they will hope that Nene continues his streak which has made him the Ligue’s top scorer (7 goals in 9 matches).

Grenoble vs. Nancy

Grenoble, who has yet to win a single point this campaign, will be looking to reverse their fortunes this weekend. Thus far their season has gone from bad to worse, but they’ve received some good luck before this game as central defender Paillot is reportedly fit for action.

Nancy’s bright start has dimmed in recent weeks as they have slipped down to 13th place, having won just one in seven debates.

Nice vs. Olympique Lyonnais

Check out The Offside-Lyon’s match preview here.

Saint-Etienne vs. Valenciennes

While teams like Marseille have flourished since the international break, Saint Etienne has struggled to regain its form. Before the break they beat Nice in the Coupe de la Ligue and ended Bordeaux’s six month unbeaten run, but suffered a 2-1 defeat last weekend to Montpellier. This bad form has been compounded by the losses of Mouhamadou Dabo, Yohan Andreu and Cedric Varrault.

Valenciennes, though missing a ton of their players through injury, have managed to win three of their last four outings and score 12 goals. They’ve recently added Celtic defender Bobo Balde to add more depth to their squad as Rafael could potentially miss quite some time.

Sochaux vs. Lorient

Despite still reeling from Charlie Davies’ serious injuries last weekend, Sochaux rallied and beat Lyon 2-0 last weekend. Though, they will have to crank out a few more wins to help lift themselves higher than their current 11th place.

Lorient have less pressing problems and are currently tied with OM on points in the Ligue with 17 points. The only injury to note is Morel’s groin which will leave him out of the side for three months.

Stade Rennais vs. Montpellier

Check out Goal.com’s extensive preview here.

Auxerre vs. Lille

Auxerre, despite their recent wins over Rennes and Bordeaux, have only scored 7 goals this season. To improve their league standing they will have to find some way to be more prolific in front of the goal against Lille.

Lille are also struggling in front of goal in the domestic leageue, despite thrashing their opponents in Europe.

Lens vs. Toulouse

Sitting in the relegation zone (18th), it is imperative that Lens are abel to put up a tough fight against Toulouse this weekend. Their only injury is Alaeddine Yahia, who picked up a knock against Monaco.

Toulouse will hope to shake off their 4-0 loss to Shakhtar Donetsk. The only key player they are expected to be missing is centre-back Mauro Cetto.

OM-PSG

Chekc out The Offside-OM’s preview here.