The 97th La Classique between PSG and Marseille will take center stage this weekend when the French Ligue One returns.
Two of French football’s biggest sides will face off on Sunday at the Parc de Princes with 8 points separating them on the table.
PSG come into the game top of the standings with 24 points while Marseille are 4th after gathering 16 points from their first 10-games.
Tomas Tuchel’s side are starting to gain momentum after a wobbly start to the season as per their standards.
The Parisians have won all of their last four games in all competitions including three in the League.
The 4-1 win away to Nice last time out was their 8th in Ligue one this campaign having lost the other two of their 10 games so far.
They started the season with several injury issues but the situation is starting to ease up as a host of first-team players are now fit to feature.
The likes of Kylian Mbappe, Edinson Cavani, Thilo Kherer and Julian Draxler have all recovered with the former two featuring in PSG’s last two games. For Kherer and Draxler, they both took part in training this week and it remains to be seen whether they will be fit enough to play on Sunday.
The only injury concerns for Paris are Idrissa Gueye and Neymar Jr who will miss the game as they are still out. Neymar is two weeks away from recovery while the Senegalese midfielder is expected back next weekend away to Dijon.
For Marseille, after going four games minus victory, they returned to winning ways last weekend as they defeated Strasbourg 2-0 at home.
The victory was their 4th for the season but it comes as major motivation for them heading into Le Classique.
Andre Villas Boaz’s side will be without Alvaro Gonzalez and Florien Thauvin for the game as they are both long term absentees.
This is one of the one-sided rivalries across Europe in recent times as Marseille have not defeated PSG since beating them 3-0 in November 2011.
Since then, PSG have won 15 of the 18 preceding fixtures while the other three have ended in draws.
Last season, Tuchel’s men did a double over their rivals including a 3-1 win in the reverse fixture.
The French Ligue One match-day 11 will kick-off with an interesting affair between high-flying Nantes and a rejuvenated Monaco side at the Stade de la Beaujoire on Friday night.
Nantes have so far been in good form this season and currently sit second on the standings with 19 points, five behind the leaders PSG.
However, last weekend, they lost 1-0 away to Metz, a result that put an end to their three game-winning run.
Nantes climb up the table has been due to their strong defensive displays as they have conceded just six games all season.
Their worry will be the fact that they have not been scoring enough, finding the back of the net on only 9 occasions so far.
For the Visit of Monaco, they will be minus the injured Rene Krhin and Marcus Coco while Imran Louza is suspended.
Monaco, on the other hand, have been improving of late and climbing up the table.
After winning just one of their opening six games, Leandro Jardim’s side have lost only a single game in their last five whilst winning three including coming from behind to beat Rennes 3-2 last weekend.
They may not be in the position they would have wanted to be in but 14th is not so bad as per the start to the season that Monaco had to endure.
Goalkeeper Diego Benaglio joins Stephen Jovetic in the treatment room as Monaco’s injured players who will not feature on Friday.
When the two sides met in the reverse fixture last season, Monaco defeated Nates 3-1, one of three consecutive victories for the Principality club in this duel.
Nantes have won only one of the last 13 meetings between the two sides with the solitary victory coming in a 1-0 result in November 2017.
The other fixtures to look out for in the Ligue One this weekend will Bordeaux’s visit to Lille on Saturday afternoon, Lyon hosting Metz on the same day and Saint Etienne entertaining Amiens on Sunday.
French Ligue One match-day 11 fixtures
Friday, 25-10-2019
-Nantes vs Monaco @9:45
Saturday, 26-10-2019
-Lille vs Bordeaux @6:30pm
-Strasbourg vs Nice @9pm
-Brest vs Dijon @9pm
-Lyon vs Metz @9pm
-Reims vs Nimes @9pm
-Montpellier vs Angers @9pm
Sunday, 27-10-2019
-Rennes vs Toulouse @5pm
-Saint Etienne vs Amiens @7pm
-PSG vs Marseille @10pm
