Extended Highlights - Reims 2-0 Lyon
Oct 1After their 3-1 loss at home to Lorient, a victory at struggling Troyes by the same scoreline helped steady the nerves for Paris Saint-Germain in what is a tense title run-in.
Now, Christophe Galtier's side face Troyes' fellow strugglers Ajaccio at the Parc des Princes, with the visitors knowing that they need to secure a famous victory in order to avoid immediate relegation back to Ligue 2, while their illustrious opponents aim to maintain or even extend their six-point lead at the top of the table, which has been cut to three following 10-man Lens' 2-1 comeback victory over Reims on Friday night.
Marseille take on already-demoted Angers, while Monaco and Lille - in fourth and fifth respectively - do battle at Stade Louis II.
Read on for the main Matchday 35 storylines, plus information on how you can watch SIX of the games exclusively live on BT Sport.
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PSG opponents hope to hit the Jac-pot
Ajaccio's hopes of survival are extremely, extremely slim.
After nine matches without a victory, the Corsicans are 11 points adrift of safety with four games of the season to go, meaning they must win all of their remaining encounters and pray that 16th-placed Auxerre endure an awful end to the campaign.
Unfortunately for Olivier Pantaloni and his squad, they must next perform the almost-impossible task of defeating Paris Saint-Germain in their own backyard and will have to shackle Lionel Messi, back training and set to start after his apology for an unauthorised trip to Saudi Arabia.
Trying to subdue Kylian Mbappe is enough of a job on its own after the 24-year-old bagged his 24th Ligue 1 goal of 2022/23 with the opener at Troyes.
A lucky ricochet off Vitinha doubled PSG's advantage, and although a defensive lapse allowed Xavier Chavalerin to halve the deficit, Fabian Ruiz's cultured finish made sure of victory.
Galtier is also boosted by the return of Achraf Hakimi from suspension, but even without the Moroccan, it's hard to imagine anything other than a home victory on Saturday, despite the capital club's struggles this calendar year in front of their demanding home fans.
L'OM look to take out Angers
Marseille will be hurting after last weekend's loss at Lens that has almost certainly put any lingering title hopes to bed.
However, Igor Tudor's men very much remain in a tussle with the Blood and Gold for second spot and an automatic place in the Champions League group stage, with the third-placed team needing to navigate qualification to reach the same point.
Fans of L'OM will also feel confident about their side's run-in, with strugglers Angers, Brest and Ajaccio all to come in the final few weeks of the campaign.
Angers are the first of those opponents on Sunday night, and it's safe to say that anything other than three points for the hosts would be a major surprise.
Alexandre Dujeux had the unenviable task of succeeding Abdel Bouhazama in March at the league's bottom club and was unable to stop them falling through the trapdoor while contending with an eye-watering injury list.
Since a shock win over Lille last month, Les Noirs et Blancs have lost four in a row, with the latest defeat coming against Monaco.
That said, Brighton loanee Abdallah Sima's fourth league goal of the campaign in that encounter was a small positive, demonstrating Angers' fighting spirit against a team with much greater resources and quality.
The Pays de la Loire outfit may also feel optimistic about their chances of causing Marseille problems, with Samuel Gigot going off at Lens with a foot injury to be replaced by Leonardo Balerdi.
Punters looking to add this match to their accumulator in the hope of a rare away victory shouldn't hold their breath though.
Monaco a Lille nervous about Dogues
While Lille's chances of a top-three finish are all but over, Les Dogues are only five points off Monaco in the fight for the sole Europa League spot - and can cut that gap to two with victory at Stade Louis II.
Paulo Fonseca's men have blown hot and cold in recent weeks, with home wins over Montpellier and Ajaccio in sharp contrast to just one point from a possible nine on the road.
Lille will have to learn to overcome that travel sickness quickly, with their latest defeat coming at Reims as Remy Cabella produced one of the misses of the season when he failed to score from a yard out with the goal at his mercy.
The northern French side will have positive memories of the reverse fixture against upcoming opponents Monaco however, which saw an absolute classic play out at Stade Pierre-Mauroy as Lille emerged 4-3 winners.
As he prepares for the trip to the principality, Fonseca will be sweating over the fitness of winger Edon Zhegrova after he was forced off against Reims, but the Portuguese will still be quietly confident that his charges can inflict damage on Monaco, who haven't kept a clean sheet at home since New Year's Day.
This lack of defensive awareness showed up at bottom side Angers last time out when, leading 2-0, the visitors allowed the contest to become more nerve-wracking than it should have been as Himad Abdelli was gifted all the time in the world to look up and pick out Abdallah Sima, who should have been marked more tightly by Chrislain Matsima.
At the other end of the pitch though, Aleksandr Golovin continued to dazzle, opening the deadlock with a trademark spectacular strike.
The Russian's 15th league goal involvement this term puts him second on that particular list at his club behind only Wissam Ben Yedder, who hasn't found the back of the net since 19 March.
Nantes staring at shock relegation
The last few years at Nantes have very much been feast or famine.
They stayed up in Ligue 1 by the skin of their teeth two seasons ago, vindicating the decision to bring in Antoine Kombouare in February 2021.
The former Paris Saint-Germain boss then guided the Yellow House to ninth the following campaign, along with earning the club their first piece of silverware for 21 years as they won the Coupe de France by defeating Nice in the final.
That triumph granted Nantes qualification to the Europa League this term, but the Canaries haven't had much to chirp about in recent months.
An horrific 11-game league winless run has seen them drop from 13th into the bottom four with just one point picked up in their last four matches against fellow relegation candidates Auxerre, Troyes, Brest and most recently Strasbourg.
To compound matters, Nantes were battered 5-1 last month by Toulouse in this year's Coupe de France final, while their European journey ended in February as Juventus ran out 4-1 aggregate winners.
The 2-0 defeat to Strasbourg was the final straw for the board, who sacked Kombouare on Tuesday and replaced him with Pierre Aristouy, who has been coaching in Nantes' youth set-up in various roles since 2017.
The 43-year-old is certainly facing a baptism of fire, with a trip to Toulouse followed by tests against Montpellier, Lille and Angers to conclude the campaign.
Having thrashed Nantes a fortnight ago, Toulouse will be licking their lips, and although their form compared to the start of 2023 has dropped off slightly, they are set to finish between 11th and 13th, an impressive achievement on their return to France's top flight.
One to watch in this encounter is Thijs Dallinga. The Dutchman scored twice against Nantes in that Coupe de France final and has 18 goals to his name this season across all competitions since a summer move from Excelsior. He will definitely have chances to add to that tally on Sunday afternoon.
