Only two points off top spot and having taken 16 points from the last 18 available, Olympique Lyonnais are in the hunt for the 2020-2021 Ligue 1 Uber Eats title.
Seventh last season and deprived of European football for the first time since 1996-1997, last season's Champions League semi-finalists are really clicking into gear as they chase a first Ligue 1 Uber Eats title since 2008, the last of their seven consecutive league crowns. OL were impressive as they swatted away ten-man Reims 3-0 on Sunday afternoon and can be justified in thinking big this season.
CREDIBLE CHALLENGERS?
Given Paris Saint-Germain's dominant position in the French game, you are hard pushed to find potential rivals publicly pronouncing they are aiming for the title. Following the Reims win, coach Rudi Garcia said: "We need to keep the run going and keep looking towards the top. We need to put together a run of victories. It's the first time this season that we've managed to win three games in a row."
Goalkeeper Anthony Lopes, who kept OL's second clean sheet in a row on his 350th appearance for the club, added: "We need to keep applying ourselves in the same way and keep the same spirit. When you wear this shirt, you have to aim as high as possible. We have a shirt to respect and bring honour to."
GOALS, GOALS, GOALS
OL have an impressive and mobile front three in captain Memphis Depay, Tino Kadewere and Karl Toko Ekambi. Between them, they have scored 14 goals this season and they are capable of stretching any defence. Moreover, OL have high-quality back-up options in Moussa Dembélé - the scourge of Manchester City in the Champions League quarter-finals - and 17-year-old wonderkid Rayan Cherki.
After the Reims win, which saw Toko Ekambi score one and set up the other two, and Dembélé come off the bench to net his first of the season, Garcia said: "All of our attackers participated in the goals and the margin of victory could have been greater. In terms of our attack, everything was positive. I'm pleased for Dembéle, who scored his first goal of the season."
FRESHNESS
Not qualifying for Europe means Lyon don't suffer from a hectic fixture list and one happy byproduct of that is an empty treatment room. Houssem Aouar sat out the Reims win, but that was for internal disciplinary reasons. Lyon's only focus is Ligue 1 Uber Eats and a win at Metz in Round 13 would set the seven-time champions up perfectly for the Round 14 trip to Paris Saint-Germain.
DEPTH
The all-Brazilian midfield of Thiago Mendes, Lucas Paqueta and Bruno Guimaraes impressed against Reims. Maxence Caqueret, a star of OL's surge to the Champions League semis, was on the bench and Aouar in the stands. Dembélé, the scorer of 16 Ligue 1 goals in 2019-2020 and 15 the previous season, was restricted to a substitute's role and is desperate to force his way into the starting team.
THE CASE AGAINST
As Garcia said, you cannot read too much into a victory over 10 men and Lyon need to sustain their form. Now unbeaten in nine league matches (5W, 4D), their problem prior to the current three-match winning run was too many draws.
The defence is the weakest area of Lyon's squad, even if Sinaly Diomandé has done well deputising for Jason Denayer and Marcelo when needed. OL have kept four clean sheets in 12 matches.
The danger remains that OL will lose key personnel in the winter transfer window. Depay is in the final year of his contract and the summer was full of speculation about clubs coming in for the likes of Aouar and Dembélé.
