Snow has already claimed one fixture this week; as much as I enjoy Ligue 1, let's hope it claims a few more because there are some real turds this time around. CATCH THE FEVER.
Ligue 1 2012, Week 23 Preview And Fixtures: Haves Looking To Utterly Demoralize Have-Nots
Marseille is out of action this week due to snow in Evian, giving Rennes, Lyon and Lille the chance to gain a totally meaningless advantage.
Auxerre vs. Lorient
Saturday February 11th; 15:00 CET/9:00 AM ET
Today in “completely un-compelling French football storylines,” can Lorient keep their 1 goal per game average in tact? Can an Auxerre team that probably deserves better than Ligue 2 but isn’t interesting enough to drive anyone to really care pull themselves out of the relegation zone? We’ll find out! When we check the scores later in the afternoon, that is.
Pick: Auxerre, 2-1
Lyon vs. Caen
Saturday February 11th; 15:00 CET/9:00 AM ET
If I wrote headlines for an English newspaper, I’m sure I would write things like “CAEN THEY AVOID RELEGATION?” or “CAEN GIANTS BE SLAIN?” all the time. At least until a decided to invite all of my appliances to join me for a nice, warm soak.
Pick: Lyon, 3-1
Montpellier vs. Ajaccio
Saturday February 11th; 15:00 CET/9:00 AM ET
Montpellier's attack! Ajaccio's defense! Poor Guillermo Ochoa; he'll probably be wondering why he made such a huge mistake. And then he'll arrive back in Ajaccio and remember instantaneously.
Pick: Montpellier, 4-0
Valenciennes vs. Nancy
Saturday February 11th; 15:00 CET/9:00 AM ET
There’s one of these every week. Too bad it couldn’t have snowed in Valenciennes instead.
Pick: Valenciennes, 1-0
Rennes vs. Sochaux
Saturday February 11th; 15:00 CET/9:00 AM ET
It’s slightly hard to believe Sochaux are really as bad as they’ve been this season. Seeing them at the bottom of the table is always a bit of a shock, and every time I watch them I expect it all to be an illusion. But nope! They’re just really bad. I don’t have much of an explanation for it, but there you go.
Pick: Rennes, 3-0
Brest vs. Dijon
Saturday February 11th; 19:00 CET/1:00 PM ET
As shambolically bad as Dijon can be at times, you’ve got to admire a team that has lost 12 times 22 games and has managed to win enough to be in 16th. They may be terrible, but at least they don’t half-ass anything.
Pick: Brest, 1-0
Lille vs. Bordeaux
Sunday February 12th; 15:00 CET/9:00 AM ET
Lille is effectively done in the race to defend their title, and with Marseille, Lyon and Rennes close behind playing in Europe at all next season looks less than a sure thing. They need every point they can get at this stage. Unfortunately, they’re playing Bordeaux so that would be one point.
Pick: Draw, 1-1
Nice vs. PSG
Sunday, February 12th; 17:00 CET/11:00 AM ET
Seeing as how home-pitch advantage is worth somewhere around 0.5 goals per game, Nice should be favored to lose this one by 999.5 goals.
Pick: PSG, A Lot-Bupkis
Toulouse vs. St. Etienne
Sunday, February 12th; 21:00 CET/3:00 PM ET
Allow me to be preemptively enthralled.
Pick: Draw, 0-0
Evian vs. Marseille
POSTPONED
Aww nuts :(
Pick: Snow, 3-0
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