The battle to avoid relegation is hotting up heading into the final weeks of the Ligue 1 Uber Eats season. Ligue1.com looks at the state of play at the bottom of the table with just five rounds remaining and ponders who is likely to be going down.
FC Girondins de Bordeaux - 16th with 36 points
Remaining fixtures: Lorient (a), Rennes (h), Nantes (a), Lens (h), Reims (a)
It has been a wretched season for Bordeaux, with Jean-Louis Gasset so far unable to repeat the magic from his days in charge of AS Saint-Etienne. The club are in crisis off the field with their American major shareholders looking to sell. On the pitch their unbroken 29-year stint in the top flight is under threat. Eight points clear of Atlantic rivals FC Nantes in 19th, automatic relegation is highly unlikely. However they could still be caught by Nîmes with the gap to the relegation play-off spot currently just five points.
Bordeaux are in wretched form. They have lost their last four games, conceding 13 goals in the process. They have lost 10 of their last 12, taking a measly four points from the last 36 available, plunging from seventh to 16th in the table in the process. The only team they have beaten in that time is bottom club Dijon.
The one bright spot has been the form of South Korean forward Hwang Ui-jo, who has scored 11 goals this season. Gasset’s side go to Lorient this weekend and still have to visit Nantes. One more win will probably be enough, but right now it is hard to see where that is coming from.
Bordeaux's latest heavy defeat came against Monaco
FC Lorient - 17th with 32 points
Remaining fixtures: Bordeaux (h), Angers (h), Lyon (a), Metz (h), Strasbourg (a)
After three seasons in Ligue 2 between 2017 and last year, could Lorient be heading for an immediate return from whence they came? The Brittany side have spent almost the entire season in the bottom five but with games left they are a point clear of the bottom three and four points above the automatic relegation positions.
Christophe Pelissier’s side were five points from safety at the season’s halfway stage before rallying to beat PSG and draw in Monaco on a five-game unbeaten run. In fact they had lost just twice in 12 and seemed to be edging towards survival before losing their last two outings, 4-1 in Lens and then 3-2 in Marseille.
Lorient have the worst defensive record in the division, with 61 goals conceded. Their away form has been wretched too - they have not won on their travels in 13 attempts since beating Stade de Reims 3-1 in October. The good news, then, is that three of their last five matches are at home, and visits of Bordeaux, Angers and Metz to the Stade du Moustoir should hold no fear for Les Merlus.
Lorient have the worst defensive record in the division
Nîmes Olympique - 18th with 31 points
Remaining fixtures: Lens (a), Reims (h), Metz (a), Lyon (h), Rennes (a)
A change in coach early in the new year has given Nîmes a fighting chance of staying up, even if they remain in the bottom three. The Crocodiles finished in 18th place in the last, curtailed campaign, their survival guaranteed as the relegation play-off was abandoned due to the pandemic. This time they will surely settle for the chance to secure survival in that play-off, as they sit three points above 19th-placed Nantes, although they are only one point from outright safety.
The southerners were in the bottom two when Jérôme Arpinon was sacked in early February after picking up just four points from his last 11 matches. His replacement Pascal Plancque did not take long to make an impact though. Once Claude Puel’s assistant at Lille, Southampton and Leicester City, the 57-year-old’s first game was a 4-3 home loss to AS Monaco. However Nîmes won their next three outings and have lost just twice in 10, a run that has included a 2-1 win at leaders Lille.
Results on the road have generally been better, so the fact three of their last five games are away may not faze them. However, they still have to face title contenders Lyon as well as Lens and Rennes, both sides chasing European qualification. Getting more than six points from their remaining fixtures will be a big ask.
FC Nantes - 19th with 28 points
Remaining fixtures: Strasbourg (a), Brest (a), Bordeaux (h), Dijon (a), Montpellier (h)
It has been a chaotic season for Nantes, who have sacked two coaches. The eight-time champions are now on the brink of being relegated to Ligue 2, ending a seven-year stint in the top flight.
Nantes were 14th when Christian Gourcuff was sacked after a humiliating 4-0 home loss to Strasbourg in early December. Raymond Domenech lasted just seven games, failing to win in a disastrous spell at the helm. Antoine Kombouaré, the former PSG coach and a former Nantes player, then took over in mid-February and the early signs were promising - les Canaris won 3-1 at near neighbours Angers in his first game. They lost just one of his first six games, stunning PSG 2-1 away in that time.
They were just a point away from outright safety at the end of March but have lost their last three outngs, against Nice, Rennes and Lyon, all by a single goal. Now they are four points from outright safety. Three of their last five games are away from home but all look like winnable fixtures on paper, at least until Montpellier visit the Stade de la Beaujoire on the final day. They should be capable of picking up three more wins and that will give them more than a fighting chance.
Dijon end long losing streak
Dijon FCO - bottom with 18 points
Remaining fixtures: Rennes (a), Metz (h), Angers (a), Nantes (h), Saint-Etienne (a)
An astonishing run of 12 straight defeats did for Dijon. That run, which is the joint-longest in French top-flight history, began in late January when the Burgundy club were only three points from outright safety. At that point it seemed the decision to sack Stéphane Jobard in early November and replace him with David Linarès was a sound enough one.
Dijon were competitive in the early weeks of his reign but their form fell off a cliff after a 3-2 loss at relegation rivals Lorient on January 27. They have scored just 22 goals all season in 33 matches. They could have been officially relegated last weekend but rallied to beat OGC Nice 2-0 at the Stade Gaston-Gérard and claim a first win in 2021. However they are under no illusions. They would still need to win all of their remaining games and hope the sides above them lose almost all of theirs to stand any chance. A defeat in Rennes this weekend will confirm the inevitable.
