Ligue 1 Preview: Round 30

Saturday April 4, 2009 (all kick-off times CET)

19:00 Girondins de Bordeaux vs. Nancy
19:00 Grenoble Foot38 vs. Lorient
19:00 Le Mans vs. Olympique Lyonnais
19:00 Monaco vs. Le Havre
19:00 Nantes vs. Lille
19:00 Valenciennes vs. Auxerre
21:00 Caen vs. Toulouse

Sunday April 5, 2009

17:00 Paris Saint-Germain vs. Nice
17:00 Sochaux vs. Stade Rennais
21:00 Saint-Etienne vs. Olympique de Marseille

Girondins de Bordeaux vs. Nancy

After tasting the top of the table a fortnight ago as they played earlier than the other Ligue 1 title-chasers, Laurent Blanc’s Bordeaux outfit will be aiming to maintain or reduce their three point rift from leaders Lyon. Laurent Blanc’s side will certainly fancy their chances against a Nancy side stuck in something of a rut at present.

The Aquitaine outfit are not without their concerns, though. Definitely missing through injury are Fernando Cavenaghi and Henrique while Fernando will be missing in the midfield due to suspension. Few changes are expected from the team that beat Le Havre 3-0 two weeks ago.

Nancy have been plunged into relegation trouble due five losses in their last six games. Pablo Correa, who has received a solid vote of confidence from the board, will still be without Issiar Dia and Chris Malonga but Michael Chretien has been named in their squad. Landry N’Guemo and Andre Luiz are banned.

Grenoble Foot38 vs. Lorient

Defensively-minded Grenoble have probably done enough in recent weeks to secure their Ligue 1 status next term, although Mehmet Bazdarevic’s side will want to score a handful more points in the final nine games of the season to secure a second season at the pinnacle of the French game.

Set-plays have proven to be profitable for GF38, who hope to welcome back Sofiane Feghouli to their first team, and they will look to Bostjan Cesar and Sandy Paillot from corners and free kicks. Martial Robin and Milivoje Vitakic are both suspended.

The big news for Lorient, who broke a poor run of form with a 3-1 success over Saint-Etienne last time out, is that Fabrice Abriel, their playmaking midfielder, is definitely out along with defender Michael Ciani. Les Merlus are similarly placed to Grenoble in the league and will see a win in this match as being a big step to safety.

Le Mans vs. Olympique Lyonnais

Le Mans, who defeated Lyon 1-0 in the corresponding fixture last season, will have the luxury of a full squad to select from when they face les Gones on Saturday evening. Daniel Jeandupeux’s side have not won in any of their last four matches and will be eager to regain their footing as the season comes to a climax. MUC, who started the season with great verve, are presently 14th, only three points above the red zone.

Claude Puel’s Lyon side are looking for victory for a very different reason: they are chasing their eighth successive title. Ederson has been tipped to play at the point of the attack with Karim Benzema playing a role on the left side of the forward trident once again. ‘Benzinho’ hasn’t scored since mid-February.

Defensive problems plagued les Gones when they faced Sochaux a fortnight ago and, although they won, there is no chance that Mathieu Bodmer and Jeremy Toulalan – two defensive midfielders – will play at the heart of the rearguard again. Cris is back from suspension while Jean-Alain Boumsong is fit. Toulalan and Kim Kallstrom are doubts due to injury.

Monaco vs. Le Havre

The era of Etienne Franzi as Monaco president begins against Le Havre on Saturday. Despite another disappointing season, les Monegasques’ new board have affirmed their confidence in conservatively-minded Brazilian coach Ricardo as coach of the club. Recent results in the league show that Monaco are slowly improving, although they still have a number of injury concerns ahead of Saturday’s fixture.

Definitely missing are long-term problems Alexandre Licata, the club’s top scorer this season, and Alejandro Alonso. Adrian, Vincent Muratori, Djamel Bakar and Flavio Roma are also on the injured list. Meanwhile, key midfielder Jean-Jacquess Gosso is banned.

Le Havre are only weeks away from relegation but will continue to fight while there is still a shred of hope. The 3-0 loss to Bordeaux last time out was unflattering and they have proven capable of the very occasional shock, as Rennes will testify to – they lost to HAC a month ago. Jean-Armel Kana-Biyik and Abasse Ba are both injured.

Nantes vs. Lille

A strong sprint around the Christmas mark seemed to suggest that there was little danger of Elie Baup’s Nantes side being drawn into the relegation dogfight. However, things have not materialised as planned and les Canaris are once again scrapping around the foot of the table seeking valuable points.

These will not come easy against a title chasing Lille side, especially as influential midfielder Aurelien Capoue will miss out for the hosts. Captain and important midfield influence Frederic Da Rocha is banned for this encounter.

Les Dogues’ midfield is also depleted as Yohan Cabaye and Ludovic Obraniak will again sit out after they were rather harshly dismissed in the Coupe de France quarter-final against Grenoble. There is some good news for coach Rudy Garcia; Pierre-Alain Frau, Nicolas Plestan and Mathieu Debuchy will all be available as the Nord club aim to keep pace with the leaders.

Valenciennes vs. Auxerre

Two in-form sides clash at the Stade Nungesser on Saturday evening as both seek to confirm their spots in Ligue 1 next term after terrible starts to the season. VA are presently on an undefeated run that dates back to December 5 (13 matches) while Auxerre are coming off such highs as a 2-0 victory away to Lyon.

Valenciennes have been boosted during the international truce by the news that powerhouse forward Jean-Claude Darcheville has shaken off his troublesome calf problem. Definitely missing will be Jonathan Lacourt, victim of a leg-break in VA’s 0-0 draw with Rennes last time out, and Djamel Belmadi. In their last 11 games, Antoine Kombouare’s men have lost only four goals.

Meanwhile, Auxerre have pushed into the top half of the league and have used the two-week lay-off to nurse Jean-Pascal Mignot back to fitness. Dennis Oliech was rushed back to fitness by the Kenyan national team, whom he scored for last weekend. Julien Quercia is still their main absentee while Ireneusz Jelen has struck a rich vein of form, simply carrying his club form to the international scene by scoring three goals for Poland in their two internationals.

Caen vs. Toulouse

Saturday night’s showcase match promises to be a tense affair as Caen are looking to push away from their increasingly difficult position in the relegation zone. Despite showing moments of excellence, les Malherbes have constantly shot themselves in the foot defensive, losing cheap goals on an almost weekly basis. When this is combined with Steve Savidan’s slow-down in form, it equates to great difficulties for the Normandy side.

Gregory Leca, Gregory Proment and Anthony Deroin are all suspended for les Malherbes while Julien Toudic is definitely missing after picking up a slight bump in a friendly last weekend. The young forward is expected to return next week.

All the spotlight has been on Andre-Pierre Gignac and his superb performance for France in midweek but his Toulouse team-mates also deserve credit for a stunning season to date. Sitting third in Ligue 1, they destroyed PSG 4-1 last time out but have toiled a little on the road. Jeremy Mathieu and Pantxi Sirieix are suspended. Cheikh M’Bengue has been banned until June.

Paris Saint-Germain vs. Nice

After two heavy defeats against close Ligue 1 challengers, Paul Le Guen’s PSG side will want to swiftly get their season back on track after falling four points behind pace-setters, Lyon. A 3-1 home drubbing by Marseille was swiftly followed by a 4-1 loss to Toulouse on the road, results that made a mockery of les Parisiens’ robust defensive reputation.

It is expected that Le Guen will have close to a full compliment of players at his disposal for this fixture. Sylvain Armand was ruled out for three to four weeks due to a twisted knee sustained in the Toulouse loss but Mamadou Sakho is expected to return to the first team fold to fill in at left back.

Nice, meanwhile, have little to play for as they are the only side in the league isolated entirely from either the European race or the relegation scrap. Drissa Diakite continues to struggle with tendonitis ahead of the trip to the capital on Sunday. Les Aiglons won 3-2 at the venue last season but recent form suggests that a similar outcome is a long-shot on Sunday.

Sochaux vs. Stade Rennais

Crisis has suddenly overcome Sochaux again after several very positive weeks from the Doubs outfit. Although the 2-0 loss against Lyon at the Stade Gerland was hardly a disastrous result in the context of the season last time out, the international break has brought only bad news.

Stephane Dalmat resigned as club captain following an alleged fracas with the police at 05:00 on Monday morning – an incident for which he spent 30 hours in custody. Meanwhile, Yassin Mikari picked up a knock and is not certain to feature against Rennes. Sloan Privat will be fit to bolster the attack after several weeks out with a foot problem.

Rennes had an equally unfortunate lull in the season. Jimmy Briand is out for six months due to a serious knee injury sustained while training with the French national side while Kader Mangane has been banned to the end of the season following his late challenge on Jonathan Lacourt that left the Valenciennes man with a broken leg. Sylvain Marveaux, who has not appeared since August, could be back in action with the reserves.

Saint-Etienne vs. Olympique de Marseille

Alain Perrin’s Saint-Etienne outfit were expected to be challenging for Europe at this stage of the season but instead find themselves very much mired in the drop zone. Circumstances have played against Sainte, with a series of injuries making Sunday’s game an even more daunting task. Loic Perrin, David Sauget, Christophe Landrin, Mouhamadou Dabo and Blaise Matuidi form their most crucial injury problems.

But les Verts have brought catastrophe upon themselves with some lamentable defending. In their 3-1 loss to Lorient a fortnight ago, two utterly needless goals were lost in a vital encounter. Against Marseille, les Verts cannot afford to be so generous.

OM are chasing the league title and, if results go their way earlier in the weekend, could even be seeking top spot once again. Erik Gerets’ men havea doubt over Brazilian forward Brandao but will certainly be without long-term concern Laurent Bonnart, Algerian star Karim Ziani and in-form veteran Boudewijn Zenden.

Robin Bairner, Goal.com