Lyon, Lille and Paris Saint-Germain — the top three in Ligue 1 Uber Eats — after the opening chapter of the 2020/21 season are separated by just a single point with the title chase shaping up to one of the most exciting in recent memory. ligue1.com's Ian Holyman assesses the frontrunners ahead of the post-Christmas restart.
Lyon
Position: 1st
Played: 17 Won: 10 Drawn: 6 Lost: 1 Goal Difference: 34-14 (+20)
Season so far
OL's progress to the UEFA Champions League semi-finals almost inevitably meant a stumbling start to the new season, and just one win from the opening six games was exactly that. There was only one loss, though, too, and Rudi Garcia's men are unbeaten since tripping up 2-1 at Montpellier in mid-September. They won all but one of their last eight games before the short winter break to roar to the top of the table. Only PSG have scored more times, only PSG and Lille have conceded fewer, but OL won in Paris and drew at the Stade Pierre Mauroy to edge ahead of their rivals.
WATCH: Lyon beat PSG at the Parc des Princes
Key player: Karl Toko Ekambi
While Memphis Depay gets a lot of the headlines and Tino Kadewere came on strong as Christmas approached, it's Toko Ekambi — with nine league goals — who has been the most prolific of Lyon's impressive front three. Signed on a permanent deal from Villarreal last summer after an eye-catching loan cameo, the 28-year-old Cameroon international has refound the form that saw him net 17 times for Angers in 2017/18.
What's next?
With no European football this season but with a squad equipped to compete on two fronts, Lyon's sole focus on their domestic challenge is paying dividends. The well-stocked, top-drawer playing staff have coped with the demands of playing every three days quite comfortably, and they'll be required again in opening month of 2021. A trip to Rennes in Round 19 could be tricky if the Bretons maintain the form they showed before the break, while the Round 21 derby at Saint-Etienne is always a test. But if Garcia's men hit the ground running, they'll be difficult to keep pace with, especially with no distractions.
Lille
Position: 2nd
P:17 W:10 D:6 L:1 GD: 31-12 (+19)
Season so far
Like OL, Christophe Galtier's men have lost just once this season — a 3-2 thriller at Brest in early November — though they have also managed to successfully juggle a UEFA Europa League campaign. They too bounced into the break with five wins in a seven-game unbeaten run, including a goalless draw at home to PSG in Round 16, shaking off the off-the-pitch turmoil that led to a change in club ownership. Not as extravagant going forward — at least in Ligue 1 Uber Eats — as Lyon, and not quite as solid at the back as PSG, Lille have still managed to find a winning formula despite the summer losses of Victor Osimhen and Gabriel with Burak Yilmaz and Sven Botman filling those huge voids quite successfully.
Key player: Jose Fonte
The former Crystal Palace, Southampton and West Ham United man is the glue that binds the Lille team together. The influence of the veteran UEFA EURO 2016 winner on Botman — freshly arrived from Ajax with barely any senior first-team experience — has been undeniable, and contributed greatly to the team's record of just 12 goals conceded in 17 matches.
What's next?
Lille also face a potentially testing trip to Roazhon Park early on (Round 21), but very winnable — on paper at least — home games against Angers and Reims and a trip to struggling Nîmes mean they should head to Brittany with some momentum. They'll need it too: they have to go to both Paris (Round 31) and Lyon (Round 34) late in the season.
PSG
Position: 3rd
P:17 W:11 D:2 L:4 GD: 39-10 (+29)
Season so far
The UEFA Champions League finalists found themselves in the inhabitual position of not being top of the table — and usually by some distance — come the Christmas break. A cataclysmic run of injuries meant Thomas Tuchel was forced to adapt his squad, whle the fatigure created by going from one season to the next with barely any break natrually led to rollercoaster form. Four defeats in 17 games is already one more than they suffered in 27 matches last term, and just one fewer than they registered in winning the title over a full 38-game season in 2018/19. But barring the shock opening-game loss to Lens, which came in the immediate hangover of their Champions League final loss to Bayern Munich, those defeats have come against 'big' teams — Marseille, Monaco and Lyon — and while they also secured a place in the Champions League Last 16, they are still very much in the hunt just a point off the pace.
Key player: Kylian Mbappé
The league's leading scorer with 12, Mbappé's youth — he turned 22 just before Christmas — means he has impressively ridden the wave of fatigue built up over the last 18 months, and overcome an early season bout of COVID-19. His goals have come in just 13 appearances, and he is already just six shy of his league-leading tally of 2019/20. And he's only going to get better and better.
What's next?
Mauricio Pochettino's first steps in charge of PSG will be scrutinised in the most minute detail. Neymar, injured just before Christmas, will make a welcome return to bolster the league's best attack (39 goals), but the ex-Argentina international centre-back will likely have to make his biggest decision at the other end of the pitch, namely whether to play Marquinhos in central defence and Danilo Pereira in midfield, unlike Tuchel. The opening game trip to Saint-Etienne could have been easier, though the reigning French champions are unbeaten in their last 14 top-flight encounters with Les Verts. Home games against Brest and Montpellier and a trip to Angers make it a potentially tricky start to life back in the French capital for Pochettino.
