Ligue 1
Paris Saint-Germain changed the French footballing landscape when the cash-rich owners went on a shopping spree and brought some of the best players to Ligue 1 all those years ago. Prior to their dominance in the league, five different teams won it in a period between 2008 and 2012.
Since then, it has been the PSG show – until the 2016/17 season. Following the departure of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, PSG seem to have lost their way. They are currently in third place – five points behind league leaders Nice.
Led by goals from Alassane Plea and the resurgence of Mario Balotelli, OGC Nice have topped the table as winter champions and have a slender lead over AS Monaco where Radamel Falcao has found a new lease of life.
However, CIES predicts Monaco to eventually finish top of the table and finish a solitary point ahead of PSG. Nice are only expected to finish third with Lyon in fourth place.
| Final Pos | Team | Points | Current Pos |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AS Monaco | 79 | 2 |
| 2 | Paris Saint-Germain | 78 | 3 |
| 3 | Nice | 72 | 1 |
| 4 | Lyon | 69 | 4 |
| 18 | Dijon | 40 | 15 |
| 19 | Lorient | 40 | 20 |
| 20 | Metz | 39 | 19 |
