After twelve rounds of the 2016/17 French Ligue 1 season, we have a surprise leader with OGC Nice on top of the pile in the league standing. OGC Nice suffered their first defeat of the season in the twelfth round against Caen.
Title defense season for Paris Saint-Germain is not going as planned at this point of the season. A few bumps on the road have denied Paris Saint-Germain the chance to be top of the table and kept them just three points away.
Inside the Six
There are a few surprised in the six teams that currently reside at the top of the French Ligue 1, Toulouse and Guingamp are the biggest ones. After finishing in the previous season just above the relegation zone, both teams find themselves amongst the top six after twelve rounds of the French Ligue 1.
OGC Nice has also done the unthinkable and topped the league. They might have finished in fourth place in the 2015/16 season, but it wasn’t a performance that gave us a hint to how OGC Nice was going to start their season.
AS Monaco celebrate a goal in a third round match against Paris Saint-Germain. Match ended 3-1 in Monaco’s favor.
Inside the Eighteen
Lille, Nancy, and Lorient make up the relegation zone. Lorient sits at the bottom of the league table after losing nine of their first twelve matches. Nancy has managed fewer defeats than Lorient, and that is what keep them a spot above in the league standings.
How are the newly-promoted teams adjusting?
Nancy is in the relegation zone, and they are looking like only newly promoted team that is very likely to be going back down. Metz and Gijon are doing just about enough to fight for a second chance at the top flight. The top four teams in the bottom half of the league table have 14 points each. Metz and Gijon make up half of that four.
Mario Balotelli is having an amazing first season with OGC NIce
Who might be in for a thrilling season?
OGC Nice have started the season too well not to finish with the league title, or at the very least qualify for the UEFA Champions league.
To not be majorly considered as one of the pre-season favorites gives as some doubts as to how far Nice can maintain this incredible run.
A success in winning the title will be record breaking. It would be their first league title since 1959.
But if all goes wrong and they end up falling out of the European spot, tragedy is what we would be having.
League Standings
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | OGC Nice | 12 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 24 | 9 | 15 | 29 |
| 2 | Monaco | 12 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 36 | 15 | 21 | 26 |
| 3 | Paris Saint-Germain | 12 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 24 | 7 | 17 | 26 |
| 4 | Guingamp | 12 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 17 | 12 | 5 | 21 |
| 5 | Rennes | 12 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 13 | 16 | −3 | 20 |
| 6 | Toulouse | 12 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 16 | 10 | 6 | 19 |
| 7 | Lyon | 12 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 20 | 16 | 4 | 19 |
| 8 | Bordeaux | 12 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 15 | 13 | 2 | 19 |
| 9 | Saint-Étienne | 12 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 14 | 10 | 4 | 18 |
| 10 | Angers | 12 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 11 | 11 | 0 | 17 |
| 11 | Dijon | 12 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 16 | 17 | −1 | 14 |
| 12 | Marseille | 12 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 12 | 13 | −1 | 14 |
| 13 | Montpellier | 12 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 19 | 26 | −7 | 14 |
| 14 | Metz | 12 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 11 | 21 | −10 | 14 |
| 15 | Caen | 12 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 10 | 21 | −11 | 13 |
| 16 | Nantes | 12 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 16 | −7 | 12 |
| 17 | Bastia | 12 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 12 | −3 | 11 |
| 18 | Lille | 12 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 10 | 18 | −8 | 10 |
| 19 | Nancy | 12 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 19 | −12 | 9 |
| 20 | Lorient | 12 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 9 | 20 | −11 | 7 |
Most points
- Nice – 29 points
Least points
- Lorient – 7 points
Top goal scorer (Individual)
PSG’s Edinson Cavani – The top goalscorer.
- Edinson Cavani (Paris Saint-Germain) – 11 goals
- Alexandre Lacazette (Lyon) – 10 goals
- Martin Braithwaite (Toulouse)/Alassane Plea (Nice) – 7 goals
- Mario Balotelli (Nice)/Ryad Boudebouz (Montpellier)/ Mevlut Erdinc (Metz)/ Bafetimbi Gomis (Marseille) – 6 goals
Top goal scorer (Team)
- Monaco – 36 goals
- Nice/Paris Saint-Germain – 24 goals
- Lyon – 20 goals
- Montpellier – 19 goals
- Guingamp – 17 goals
- Toulouse – 16 goals
Most goals conceded
- Montpellier – 26 goals
- Metz/Caen – 21 goals each
- Lorient – 20 goals
- Nancy – 19 goals
- Lille – 18 goals
Least goals conceded
- Paris Saint-Germain – 7 goals
- Nice – 9 goals
- Toulouse/Saint-Etienne – 10 goals each
- Angers – 11 goals
- Guingamp/Bastia – 12 goals each
Best defence
- Nice – 1 defeat
- Monaco/Paris Saint-Germain/Saint-Etienne – 2 defeats each
- Guingamp/Toulouse/Bordeaux – 3 defeats each
- Rennes/Dijon/Marseille/Montpellier – 4 defeats each
Worst Defence
- Lorient – 9 defeats
- Lille – 8 defeats
- Nancy/Bastia/Caen – 7 defeats each
- Nantes – 6 defeats
- Angers/Lyon – 5 defeats each
Hat-trick
- Edinson Cavani (Paris Saint-Germain) against Caen
- Alexandre Lacazette (Lyon) against Nancy
- Mevlut Erdinc (Metz) against Nantes
- Casimir Ninga (Montpellier) against Dijon
- Alassane Plea (Nice) against Metz
