Five things to watch during Ligue 1 Matchday 32 as Lens host fellow Champions League hopefuls Monaco - live on BT Sport!

The Blood and Gold, who are third in the table, lie two points ahead of their upcoming opponents heading into the clash at Stade Bollaert-Delelis.

Published: 21 April 2023, 11.54am | 5 min read

Paris Saint-Germain's 3-1 win over Lens on Saturday looks to have put an end to the title race, with the reigning champions now eight points clear of nearest challengers Marseille after they leapfrogged the Blood and Gold with a 3-1 victory of their own over Troyes.

Now, Lens must pick themselves up and go again as Monaco travel to Stade Bollaert-Delelis, while Marseille gear up for a mouthwatering clash with Lyon.

Read on for the lowdown on the weekend's main storylines, plus information on how you can watch six Ligue 1 games exclusively live on BT Sport.

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Lens and Monaco with UCL in mind

Lens made an encouraging start at the Parc des Princes until Salis Abdul Samed's controversial 19th-minute red card following his challenge on Achraf Hakimi left the Pays-de-Calais outfit facing an uphill task as they duly fell to defeat in the capital.

However, Franck Haise will be pleased that his team kept a clean sheet in the second half and grabbed a goal themselves through Przemyslaw Frankowski's 60th-minute penalty.

That said, the sobering reality of the situation is that, having had the chance to move within three points of Paris Saint-Germain, Lens are now nine points adrift of them and are instead now battling to secure a top-three place and Champions League football, which would still be an insane achievement for a club that were only promoted back to Ligue 1 in 2020.

Abdul Samed will miss three games, the first of which is the visit of Monaco, who responded to throwing away a two-goal lead at Nantes by beating Lorient 3-1.

Wissam Ben Yedder - the Monegasques' leading marksman this term - was the assist-maker on this occasion for both Aleksandr Golovin and Kevin Volland, but will perhaps be confident of ending his three-game scoring drought against Lens, a team he netted three times against last season, including twice in a 4-2 Coupe de France last-16 elimination.

Lens though will have fond memories of this term's reverse fixture after winning 4-1 at Stade Louis II as Lois Openda got the ball rolling for the visitors for what was his first goal for his new employers.

Openda has since gone on to bag 14 more times in Ligue 1 and currently sits joint-seventh in the division's 2022/23 scoring charts, putting him alongside Habib Diallo and Lionel Messi.

Wissam Ben Yedder hasn't scored in his three games - but produced two assists in the win over Lorient

Choc des Olympiques has lots at stake

The last meeting between Lyon and Marseille at Groupama Stadium was marred by disgraceful scenes as Dimitri Payet was hit on the head by a water bottle thrown from the home end.

This time round, L'OM travel north looking to keep their faint hopes of catching Paris Saint-Germain alive and will be buoyed after beating Lyon in November courtesy of Samuel Gigot's 44th-minute winner, which proved to be the start of a six-game league winning run either side of the World Cup.

Igor Tudor will be looking for his players to produce a similarly strong streak at the end of the campaign, with big-money January signing Vitinha getting his first two goals in a 3-1 win over Troyes last Sunday.

Lyon's opening half of the season was marred by inconsistency under both Peter Bosz and Laurent Blanc, but a run of just one defeat from their last 12 league games has pushed them to within five points of the European places.

Their latest match saw Les Gones eke out a 2-1 victory at Toulouse, Logan Costa's agonising own goal proving the winner.

A boost for Blanc is the return of young forward Bradley Barcola, who is back from suspension and has netted five times in his last eight appearances at club level. One to watch.

The last time Marseille won at Lyon was April 2008. Can Tudor's team be the one to end that 15-year drought?

Vitinha has had a tough start to life in France but has now got off the mark with two goals against Troyes

Bottom vs top at Stade Raymond Kopa

Such has been Paris Saint-Germain's inconsistency this season that even though the reigning champions hold an eight-point lead over Marseille with just seven games remaining, it still doesn't feel like they are home and dry just yet.

Christophe Galtier's men were helped significantly in their last match against high-flying Lens when Salis Abdul Samed was sent off on 19 minutes, but to their credit, PSG took full advantage, Kylian Mbappe grabbing the opener to make it 139 Ligue 1 goals for the club - a record.

From there, former Wolves midfielder Vitinha's rocket and a beautifully crafted move involving Mbappe and Lionel Messi got the job done, although Angers will be encouraged that the visitors did carve out opportunities while down to 10 men at the Parc des Princes.

That said, the bottom side will feel crushed at losing to Clermont last time out after playing against 10 men themselves for the entire second half.

Alexandre Dujeux's men were the architects of their downfall however, clumsily giving away two converted first-half penalties.

That defeat brought to an end a run of four points from two defeats that threatened to turn into the most sensational of survival stories, but now a mammoth 17 points adrift of 16th, Les Noirs et Blancs could be relegated this weekend if they fail to win and other results conspire against them.

Angers fans failed in their attempt to put off Clermont penalty-taker Grejohn Kyei

Inspired Auxerre inching to safety

Auxerre were mired in the bottom four just a few weeks ago, but Sunday's win against relegation rivals Nantes - their third straight victory - now means they sit 14th.

Central to that improvement has been a defence that has conceded just six goals in their last 10 league matches - a record only matched during that period in Ligue 1 by Will Still's Reims.

Now, the Burgundy outfit switch focus to Lille, who still occupy the final European spot after a rousing comeback against Montpellier that saw Jonathan David and Remy Cabella strike in the space of two second-half minutes.

However, Les Dogues' strong form has inevitably attracted the attention of Premier League clubs, with both West Ham and Crystal Palace reportedly interested in poaching Paulo Fonseca from Stade Pierre-Mauroy this summer.

On the pitch, David has been the undoubted star with 20 league goals to his name this season, a figure only equalled by Kylian Mbappe in Ligue 1.

The Canadian also scored twice on the opening day against Auxerre. Something to fear for Christophe Pelissier's men?

Auxerre are all smiles after three wins on the bounce - the first time that has happened this season

Rennes hoping for a Lille luck

Sitting just two points behind Lille and the top five, Rennes did what was required of them last weekend by comfortably seeing off a usually defensively solid Reims side 3-0.

Jeremy Doku netted twice inside 20 minutes, the first a purposeful run and precise shot low into Yehvann Diouf's right-hand corner, before doubling his tally by sweeping home following neat build-up from Armand Kalimuendo and Birger Meling.

Arthur Theate rounded off the scoring midway through the second period, with Bruno Genesio's men now facing five teams in the bottom half in their final seven fixtures of the campaign.

The first of those is Montpellier, whose bright start under new boss Michel Der Zakarian has faded slightly, with last weekend's loss at Lille representing their third straight game without a win.