Ligue 1 title race to go to the wire

April 18, 2011
By: Frank Beresford

French Ligue 1 is regarded as one of the most exciting leagues in Europe since usually half of the teams is fighting for the title and the other half is battling to survive.

This season is no different, although we now have only five title contenders, one of which are set to miss out on the European qualification.

Lille (59) have been leading the race for quite a while, but two successive slip ups have seen their advantage at the top melt and les Dogues quickly need to rediscover their form if they want to achieve a historic success.

Rudi Garcia’s side will play Lorient, Nancy, Saint Etienne and Paris Saint-Germain away and host Arles, Sochaux and Rennes, meaning that odds of 2.10 (11/10) offered on Lille to win the Ligue 1 title at 888Sport look too good to pass.

Marseille (58) closed the gap behind the leaders to just one point as they came from behind to beat Montpellier, and now the reigning champions have a decent chance of defending the title.

OM host Nice, Auxerre, Brest and Valenciennes, while traveling to Lyon, Lorient and Caen, and Didier Deschamp’s side are now 2.00 (1/1) with Paddy Power to defend the title.

Lyon (53) severely damaged their title chances by losing to rivals Paris Saint-Germain and Claude Puel’s side will need a real miracle in order to restore their domestic dominance.

Lyon are at home to Montpellier, Marseille and Caen, while they travel to Toulouse, Auxerre, Brest and Monaco, so it is little wonder les Gones are 10.00 (9/1) with Paddy Power to lift the Ligue 1 trophy.

Paris Saint-Germain (52) returned to the title race with back to back wins over Caen and Lyon, but they will need to win all their remaining games in order to catch Lille and Marseille at the top.

PSG will host Lille in the penultimate round of the season, while they also host Nancy and Valenciennes. The Saints travel to Brest, Monaco, Bordeaux and Saint Etienne. Maybe the difficult fixture list is the reason why PSG are 41.00 (40/1) with Bet365 to win the title.

Having picked up just two points from last five games, Rennes (51) have dropped out of the race and les Bretons are not worth betting on.

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