Before we get hopelessly bogged down with pre-derby coverage, Monsieur Salut gets up early to update events in France …
After an uplifting victory over St Etienne, who are doing well in the French Ligue 1 for the first time in years, the team every Sunderland supporter should keep a soft spot for – Nice, managed by Eric Roy – resumed their mini-slide.
A 1-0 defeat in Lens was the disappointing result from Nice’s weekend (and heaven knows how they got back from the grim north to the sunny Med with all those fuel blockades). So the Lads/les Mecs slip to 13th (our finishing position last season) when victory would have taken them to seventh (where we are now).
What else from the French football weekend? Deprived by Mr Wenger of the impressively developing diving skills of Chamakh, our French hate figures – Bordeaux – confirmed their current awfulness, beaten 1-0 at home by the valiant Bretons of Brest.
And Marseille went second – to the Asamoah Gyan-less Rennes, defeated for the first time, at home to Montpellier, and surely now about to begin a gentle descent of the table.
But I’ve kept the best for last. My recent question – would sad little Arles-Avignon
go the whole season without gaining a point – has had its galvanising effect. Our plucky fighters grabbed a 1-1 draw at home to moneybags Lyon, doubling their points tally after a creditable 0-0 draw up in Brest the week before.
Don’t hold your breath yet for a 10-match unbeaten run, but do salute the moment.
French Ligue 1
Home Away Total
1 Stade Rennais FC P10 W2 D2 L1 W3 D2 L0 Totals5 4 1 Pts19
2 Olympique de Marseille 10 3 1 1 2 2 1 5 3 2 18
3 AS Saint-Etienne 10 3 2 0 2 1 2 5 3 2 18
4 Stade Brestois 29 10 1 3 0 4 0 2 5 3 2 18
5 Toulouse FC 10 2 1 2 3 1 1 5 2 3 17
6 Montpellier Hérault SC 10 3 1 1 2 1 2 5 2 3 17
7 Paris Saint-Germain FC 10 2 2 2 2 1 1 4 3 3 15
8 LOSC Lille Métropole 10 2 2 1 1 3 1 3 5 2 14
9 FC Girondins de Bordeaux 10 2 1 2 2 1 2 4 2 4 14
10 SM Caen 10 1 2 1 2 3 1 3 5 2 14
11 FC Sochaux-Montbéliard 10 4 1 1 0 0 4 4 1 5 13
12 Valenciennes FC 10 2 1 1 1 3 2 3 4 3 13
13 OGC Nice 10 2 2 1 1 2 2 3 4 3 13
14 Olympique Lyonnais 10 2 2 1 1 1 3 3 3 4 12
15 AJ Auxerre 10 0 4 1 2 1 2 2 5 3 11
16 FC Lorient 10 3 0 2 0 2 3 3 2 5 11
17 AS Nancy-Lorraine 10 1 0 4 2 2 1 3 2 5 11
18 AS Monaco FC 10 1 2 2 0 4 1 1 6 3 9
19 RC Lens 10 1 2 3 1 1 2 2 3 5 9
20 AC Arles-Avignon 10 0 1 4 0 1 4 0 2 8 2