Ligue 1 Review Gameweek 3

Last weekend saw a number of sides continue their strong start to the season with others kick-starting their campaign with a strong performance. A clear gap is beginning to develop between the top sides and the teams who are in for a tough season.

Here is our Ligue 1 Review from the weekend’s games!

Montpellier 0-1 Paris Saint-Germain

PSG have ensured they are the only Ligue 1 team with a 100% record following this win at the Stade de la Mosson. It was a 60^th-minute strike from Blaise Matuidi that won the game for the champions, scoring his second goal in as many games. The goal came from some excellent hold-up play from Ezequiel Lavezzi before Maxwell found the French international with a neat pass.

A blow for PSG came in just after ten minutes when Javier Pastore had to leave the field with an injury, as he looked to have landed awkwardly on his foot. The game didn’t look to be going in their favour when they had two goals disallowed for offside, but Matuidi’s goal gave Les Parisians the three points to be travelling home with. PSG remain top of the league, while Montpellier are left struggling in 19^th place on goal difference, yet to score a goal this season.

Lyon 1-2 Rennes

Lyon’s inconsistent start to the season continues with a home defeat to Rennes, who have leapfrogged Lyon in the table after back-to-back wins. It took the visitors just seven minutes to break the deadlock with Pedro Henrique scoring the goal, before Lyon levelled five minutes later through Nabil Fekir scoring his first goal of the season.

What came next left Lyon in shock, as Mehdi Zeffane marked his return to the Stade de Gerland with a 55^th-minute winner. The Algerian joined Rennes from Lyon this summer following a 12-year spell with Les Gones after breaking through their youth ranks, and he has come back to haunt his former club by taking all three points in this game. The result leaves Lyon in 12^th but Rennes have hit form and risen to 5^th in the league standings.

Bastia 3-0 Guingamp

Guingamp’s horrific start to the season goes on with this emphatic defeat to Bastia, with Jocelyn Gourvennec’s team rooted to the bottom of the table losing three games, conceding five goals and failing to score themselves. A Julien Palmieri brace in the first half made it very difficult for the visitors to recover, as Les Bleus took the lead in the 5^th-minute when Palmieri converted from a corner, before adding a second just before the break.

The match was settled in stoppage time when youngster Lassana Coulibaly came off the bench to score in the 90^th-minute. Bastia are 2^nd in the league with their unbeaten start to the season and are looking to show signs of promise; if they can keep up their current form for the duration of the campaign they may be in for a good league position next year.
Gazélec Ajaccio 0-2 Angers

Both teams have begun this league campaign in very different ways at the top and bottom of the table. Angers have won another game on the road which puts them 3^rd in the table after the previous win and draw, yet to concede a goal this season. Whereas Gazélec Ajaccio have failed to beat both of their fellow promoted sides, leaving them in 18^th place, yet to score a goal.

Two goals from Cheikh N’Doye ensured Angers earned their second victory of the season, and it only took the skipper two minutes to score when he headed in a Yohann Andreu cross. He scored his second of the game in the 20^th-minute which was enough to seal all three points despite Gazélec dominating large parts of the game. The only downside for N’Doye is that he didn’t get his hat-trick after seeing his header come back off the post, but Angers saw out the game to continue their impressive start to the season.

Nantes 1-0 Reims

Nantes have kept their third consecutive clean sheet with this home win and have denied Reims their 100% record. The hosts dominated a game of few clear-cut chances, and Reims were forced to make a goalkeeper change when Kossi Agassa suffered a hamstring injury. His replacement Johnny Placide kept his team in the game when he denied Johan Audel a goal at 0-0.

The home side’s efforts were rewarded in the 76^th-minute when Audel assisted Ermir Lenjani, who finished from a tight angle. Despite only scoring twice in three games, Nantes have had an unbeaten start to the season and sit 4^th in the league standings. Reims have dropped down to 7^th but still have their opening two wins to build on.

Nice 2-1 Caen

Another team who have been denied a 100% record is Caen after losing 2-1 at the Allianz Riviera. Nice went into this game on the back of two disappointing results; a defeat to Monaco and a draw with Troyes, despite leading by two goals in the second half.

Nice took the lead in the second half of this match through Hatem Ben Arfa, who scored an impressive individual goal in the 66^th-minute. Caen responded immediately however, when Andy Delort beat the offside trap to finish from close range. Nice secured the victory in the latter stages of the game when Alassane Plea brought down a long ball to score his second goal this season. The win puts Nice in 9^th in the league standings but Caen have dropped down to 6^th going into the fourth round of fixtures.