Ligue 1 Preview

Tonight sees reigning champions Montpellier kick off the new Ligue 1 season at home to Toulouse. The champions will be missing some key names from last season - Belhanda is injured for tonight, but if he remains at the club he will be crucial in their slim hopes of retaining the title. One reason for those slim hopes is the loss of last seasons joint top scorer Olivier Giroud, who has joined Arsenal. The leagues other joint top scorer, Lille's Eden Hazard, has also departed Ligue 1, to join European Champions Chelsea. Lille have intelligently reinvested €40 million transfer fee on free agent Salomon Kalou, going in the opposite direction to Hazard, and Sochaux wide man Marvin Martin for around €10 million - good business it seems. The 2010/11 champions will hope to mount a title challenge with these replacements. 

It is the contrast in Lille's 'good business' to Paris Saint-Germain's aggressive attack on the transfer market which has caught the eye of everyone in Europe. PSG have shelled out near to €100 million on Ibra, Lavezzi and Silva, to name a few, and could still plunder more money in to the European transfer market. The phrase 'money talks' has never been so fitting, and many people expect PSG to run away with the league this season. Though it is not only the Ligue 1 title they are tipped for, following an impressive pre-season display and victory over Champions League holders Chelsea, many see the French side as serious contenders. Despite this, they were heavily tipped for the title last season and fell just short losing out to an 80/1 shot and this is Football - anything can happen.

With PSG and Lille likely to take up the first two Champions League spots, it is the race for the third spot which may enthral people the most. Montpellier will be hopeful of building on last seasons surprise success to sneak in to 3rd, whilst in contrast it is Lyon who will look to use last seasons disappointment to regain a Champions League place, this season will be the first time they have missed out on the Champions League since 1999. Marseilles seriously underperformed last year finishing 10th and with the quality in their squad they ought to be in the top 5 at the very least. Surprise candidates for the Champions League qualifying place may be Stade Rennes, although like most of the clubs in France they will need to keep hold of their star players - Yann M'Vila being that man.

Ligue 1 produced some brilliant football last season, and a brilliant title race at that. For 12/13 it seems the latter may be out of the question, PSG will dominate - won't they?

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