Franck Haise led the Sang-et-Or faithful in their victory song after guiding Lens to a huge victory against the reigning Ligue 1 champions last night.
In his 100th game at the helm, Haise joined his boys in the celebrations when the final whistle blew to confirm their 3-1 victory, because it’s one of the best results they’ve had in a long time here in the French top-flight.
Elsewhere, Marseille, Rennes, AS Monaco, and Lorient are in a tough four-way battle for the other European spots, and they’ve won their matches this week, while Lyon’s run of inconsistency continues under Laurent Blanc.
With the 17th matchday in the books, continue to read on below as SBOTOP recaps the latest Ligue 1 2022 updates.
Lens stun PSG in convincing performance
Lens dealt PSG their first defeat since March 2022 with a 3-1 victory at Stade Bollaert-Delelis.
Przemyslaw Frankowski kicked off the scoring binge after five minutes, but the hosts’ lead was erased by Hugo Ekitike when he nipped the ball in three minutes later.
Les Sang et Or found the equalizer through Lois Openda via a counterattack in the 28th minute. Then, at the start of the second half, Openda managed to complete the victory with a nifty backheel pass to set up Alexis Claude-Maurice for their third goal of the evening.
Lens are still undefeated at home this season, and they’re now within four points of PSG at the top of the Ligue 1 table.
Kylian Mbappe, Hugo Ekitike, and Carlos Soler led PSG’s frontline as Lionel Messi was still absent following Argentina’s World Cup victory, while Neymar had to serve his one-match ban after seeing red during their 2-1 victory over Strasbourg in their last outing.
Lens’ rise has been remarkable since they weren’t expected to be in this position at all before the start of this term, according to the pre-season Ligue 1 2022 odds.
Up next for them in the league is PSG’s previous opponent, Strasbourg, while the Parisiens are poised to get back on the winning track versus bottom seed Angers on Wednesday.
Double whammy for Lyon
Laurent Blanc was not happy following Lyon’s 1-0 defeat to Clermont on Monday. Not only did they fall to eighth in the table as a result, but they also lost their top scorer, Alexandre Lacazette, in the process due to an adductor injury.
Lyon were fresh from a 4-2 win over Brest on Thursday, while Clermont lost back-to-back against Sochaux and Lille, which makes this result shocking – especially because this was Clermont’s first win over their neighbours in 35 years.
It was a pretty ho-hum game as both sides couldn’t convert on their chances up until Clermont won a late penalty. Castello Lukeba’s hand unfortunately got in the way of Grejohn Kyel’s ball inside the box, and substitute Muhammed Cham scored from the spot at the 87th minute.
With the victory, Clermont are now ninth in the table with 22 points, but they have a tough game against Rennes this Wednesday.
Tight battle from third to fifth
Marseille, Rennes, and AS Monaco are placed third to fifth in the Ligue 1 standings, while Lorient aren’t far behind at sixth, and they’re only separated by five points at most.
10-man Marseille have now won four consecutive fixtures after beating Montpellier 2-1, as Nuno Tavares found the back of the net in the 47th minute and Maxime Esteve had an own goal. Teji Savanier pulled one back for the hosts from the penalty spot during added time after a red card to Nuno Tavares.
Rennes, meanwhile, eked out a 2-1 victory over Nice at Roazhon Park for their third victory in their last five.
Martin Terrier drew first blood for Rennes, but Ross Barkley answered back for Nice. And it felt like we were headed to a 1-1 draw up until Benjamin Bourigeaud broke the visitors’ hearts in the 89th minute.
Over at Monaco, they claimed their second straight victory on their return from the World Cup break, as Aleksandr Golovin’s goal in the 54th minute was enough to claim three points. Brest almost leveled five minutes from time, but Steve Mounie’s shot hit the crossbar.
For Lorient, they finally ended their winless drought by defeating Angers 2-1 at the Stade Raymond Kopa.
Angers actually took the lead through Abdallah Sima, but the Senegalese scored at the wrong side of the pitch during the 79th minute to spark a turnaround for the visitors, and Enzo Le Fee completed the comeback nine minutes later.
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