French Ligue 1 2011, Week 9 Preview And Fixtures: PSG And PSG Battle For Early Supremacy
Lyon hosts PSG in the weekend’s most intriguing fixture, but the battle for separation in the middle of the table remains Ligue 1’s most interesting storyline.
Nancy vs. Évian TG
17:00 CET/1:00 PM ET
Sweet heavens to Betsy good gracious almighty Lordy Linda Mae. People are going to pay actual money (at least it will be for the next few months) to watch this game. People in North America are going to spend a decent portion of their Saturday afternoon staring at 14” computer monitors upon which this will be projected. What in God’s name is wrong with us.
Pick: Évian, 2-1
Caen vs. Nice
17:00 CET/1:00 PM ET
This is the reverse of an insult an uncreative 12-year-old would yell at an elderly person. Also good gravy is Nice awful to watch and Caen kind of the opposite. Of course from a partisan perspective they’re indistinguishable but since I’m not partisan I calls ‘em as I sees ‘em.
Pick: Caen, 3-1
Dijon vs. AC Ajaccio
17:00 CET/1:00 PM ET
I really want Ajaccio to be a better team than they are because I really enjoy looking at pictures of Ajaccio and if they’re relegated back down to Ligue 2 I’ll have less of an occasion. I really want Dijon to lose more often because oh my god score more goals.
Lorient vs. Valenciennes
17:00 CET/1:00 PM ET
Valenciennes appear to have a pulse! It beats in exact time with the pulse of their opponents apparently. Meanwhile, Lorient continue to be quite possibly the least hateable team in all of Europe aside from maybe Shakhtar Donetsk. You know what they have in common?
That’s right. Orange.
Pick: Lorient, 2-1
Sochaux vs. Toulouse
17:00 CET/1:00 PM ET
I'm pretty sure Sochaux are playing in the wrong league entirely because they score goals and their defense is terrible. England should do a tradesies and send Stoke back the other way. Toulouse are right at home and hey what do you know they're kind of good.
Pick: Sochaux, 3-1
St. Étienne vs. AJ Auxerre
17:00 CET/1:00 PM ET
Auxerre is the kind of team that everyone knows can be pretty good but when they do something like drop four goals on Sochaux and you’re like “whoa, that’s kind of surprising I didn’t really imagine that would happen” even though it’s not really that surprising. St. Étienne is the kind of team that if they ever score more than two goals you’re like “whoa I should stop drinking all this cough syrup.”
Pick: Auxerre, 2-0
Bordeaux vs. Montpellier
19:00 CET/3:00 PM ET
Is Montpellier for real?!?!?! No, probably not. But they’re still better than Bordeaux!
Pick: Montpellier, 3-1
Sunday October 2nd
Lille vs. Stade Rennes
15:00 CET/11:00 AM EST
Lille is kind of starting to look like that really fun and awesome team that everyone loves and lends hope to underdogs around the world that ends up being ruined by the Champions League. Which is really a shame until you remember that Shakhtar Donetsk exists.
Pick: Lille, 2-0
Marseille vs. Brest
15:00 CET/11:00 AM EST
There’s just no possible way Marseille is as bad as they’ve looked, right? We’ll find out, because we all know Brest is every bit as bad as they’ve looked.
Pick: Marseille, 3-1
PSG vs. Lyon
19:00 CET/3:00 PM ET
Game of the weekend, obviously. Same number of points, wins, draws, losses, goals for, goals against. Totally different roads taken. In a world where people were actually consistent in their opinions every neutral on the planet would be firmly in Lyon’s corner, but since their entire sustainable approach became annoying to the fickle masses the moment they started wining things this is likely to be split down the center in terms of non-invested support. People are dumb.
Pick: PSG, 3-2
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