These two teams are among the biggest teams in the Ligue 1, while they aren’t necessarily doing poorly, they should be doing better than they are doing at the moment. Lyon finished third in Ligue 1 last season and they are currently 4th on the league table. They have been very devastating at some points this season like when they beat Marseille 4-2, but they seem to be very vulnerable at the back. They conceded 43 goals last season, that is more than Amiens who finished 13th conceded and they have already conceded 17 goals in this new campaign. They have also kept just a single clean sheet this season, this could see them drop points here again. Saint Etienne have also collected 17 points from a possible 24 so far this season, but they seem to have won games that Lyon would have dropped points in. They come into this game having secured 5 solid wins against the likes of Monaco,  Reims, Angers, and Toulouse. They did struggle to beat Angers and Toulouse, but that was down to the resilience of those opponents. Lyon have lost four of their last nine Ligue 1 games against St Etienne (W3 D2), after losing only one of their previous 27 (W16 D10). Lyon have won only three of their last 10 home games against St Etienne in Ligue 1 (D5 L2), after winning eight of their previous nine (D1).

This season has been a disastrous one for AS Monaco and it is such a stunning fall from grace for a team that won the French League just two seasons ago. Now they face PSG that has won every domestic game this season, it can only get worse for Thierry Henry’s men. Monaco have played 17 games in all competition this season, and their 4-0 home loss to Club Brugge in midweek was the 16th time they have failed to win a game. They are currently second from bottom in the French Ligue 1 and need 4 points to be safe from relegation. PSG have dominated the French game for so long that the only place they want to make a name for themselves now is in Europe. Nevertheless, they have still continued to show that they are a class above the rest in France as they come into this game with a 100 percent record in the French topflight. They have dropped points against only Liverpool and SS Napoli in Europe at the moment and they would be looking to pile more misery on Henry’s men in this game.

Patrick Viera’s foray into management in Europe has given him reasons to perform a serious reality check after his hugely successful time in the MLS with NYCFC. His Nice team started the season with no wins from their first three games, but they have since won 3 of their last 6 games to balance things out. The former Arsenal midfielder has achieved one major thing at the French side, and that is the forming a deadly partnership between Allan Saint-Maximin and Myziane Maolida up front and the two of them look like the players that would fire them back to Europe this season. This would be one of their biggest game so far and their fans would be hoping that the international break has helped them to get some of the mojos back after they collected just 1 point from their previous two league games. Marseille are one of the biggest teams in France at the moment, but they also have their problems. They have suffered some hurtful defeats this season that highlight the lack of consistency that has stopped them from achieving great things. These have been highlighted on a number of occasions this season, namely when newly-promoted Nimes put them to the sword (1-3) and also when, and probably the most painful of results when considering the opposition, Lyon put four past them in a dominating derby win (2-4). Despite sitting third in the table, they have conceded nine goals in their last four games and have a lot of teams snapping at their heels looking to take their position in the top three.