Ligue 1 table and results: Marseille 1-2 PSG leaves Génésio's side second from bottom, Monaco clear at the top
PSG won 2-1 at the Vélodrome through Ferran Torres and Marquinhos, and Marseille, down to ten after Timothy Weah's red card, lost for a fifth game running in all competitions. They are second from bottom on three points, and Génésio says he will talk to his directors. Monaco are clear at the top on 13 and Lyon beat Rennes 4-0. Every result, the standings and how our calls went: eight out of nine.
Marseille go into the international break second from bottom. PSG won the Classique 2-1 at the Vélodrome on Sunday night, and for Marseille it was a fifth straight defeat across the league and the Europa League. They have three points from five Ligue 1 games, sit 17th on their own and are in the automatic relegation places. Bruno Génésio says he will talk to his staff and his directors, and as of late morning on Monday 21 September he is still in charge.
Filipe Luís's Monaco are clear at the top on 13 points. Lyon, 4-0 winners over Rennes, and Paris FC are on 11, and those three are the only sides still unbeaten in the league. Le Mans, Toulouse and Nice all picked up their first league win of the season, which leaves Le Havre as the only team in Ligue 1 without a win.
Marseille 1-2 PSG: Ferran, Gomes, Marquinhos and a red for Weah
It was goalless at half-time and the substitutes decided it. Luis Enrique sent on Ferran Torres for Kvaratskhelia on 59 minutes, and seven minutes later he headed in Désiré Doué's cross. Marseille equalised on 72 through Angel Gomes, on since the half-hour for the injured Paixão, from a Gouiri pass. It lasted two minutes: on 74 De Lange saved from Marquinhos, who scored the rebound.
On 77 minutes referee François Letexier sent off Timothy Weah for a second yellow, for holding Nuno Mendes. PSG had 31 shots, 10 on target, to Marseille's 12 and 4, and goalkeeper Jeffrey De Lange made eight saves. Marseille also lost Harit on 63 minutes with cramp; Génésio said Paixão may have twisted his ankle, pending scans.
Marseille second from bottom, and the fans turn on McCourt and Richard
The run began with a 2-0 defeat at Monaco on 30 August, followed by a 3-2 home defeat by Paris FC, 1-0 at Rennes, 4-1 at Beşiktaş in the Europa League last Thursday (our call was fewer than five goals, confidence 6 out of 10: wrong) and now the Classique. Four of those are league defeats in a row, and all three of Marseille's points came from the 4-0 win over Strasbourg on the opening weekend. Ligue 1 has 18 clubs: the bottom two go down automatically and 16th goes into a play-off. Marseille are a point above Le Havre and a point below Lens and Troyes.
During the game both ends of the Vélodrome protested against the club's leadership, with banners aimed at owner Frank McCourt and, for the first time, at president Stéphane Richard. The players and the manager were backed.
Pitchside after the game, Génésio said a manager is judged on results, all the more so at a club like Marseille; the level was not good enough, he takes his share of the responsibility and others will have to take theirs. Asked about resigning, he said he was not at that point for now: he would digest the defeat and talk to his staff and his directors. It is not normal, he added, for Marseille to be in this position. In his press conference he ruled out resigning and said that settling for honourable defeats, especially four in a row in the league, is not acceptable.
As of late morning on Monday 21 September the club had issued no statement: no resignation, no sacking. Reports in the French press that morning point in opposite directions, and until the club speaks we are not repeating them. Marseille's next league game is at Troyes on Sunday 11 October; our call will come with the matchday six preview.
PSG: Ferran, Marquinhos and no Hakimi
Ferran Torres joined from Barcelona on 14 August and already has seven goals in six games for PSG, only three of them starts: four in Ligue 1 (two at Rennes, then Brest and Marseille) and a hat-trick against Slovan Bratislava in the Champions League. On 19 July he won the World Cup final for Spain, 1-0 against Argentina with a goal in the 106th minute. He dedicated Sunday's win to the supporters who could not be at the Vélodrome. For Marquinhos it was a third league goal, after strikes at Lille and against Monaco.
PSG move up to eight points and are sixth on their own, five behind Monaco. Both their wins have come away, at Brest and Marseille; their only home league game ended in a 2-1 defeat by Monaco. Achraf Hakimi was not in the squad because of the right thigh problem he picked up at Brest; Lucas Hernández was also missing, and Warren Zaïre-Emery played at right-back. Luis Enrique said winning at the Vélodrome is not easy, even if some thought it would be, that his side's second half was much better than their first, and that Marseille have a very good manager and their results will improve.
The fans' appeal thrown out, and what we got right and wrong
On Friday 18 September the Conseil d'État, France's highest administrative court, rejected the Collectif Ultras Paris's challenge to the two orders keeping PSG supporters away from Marseille. The hearing began at 3pm, and in order no. 519878 judge Gilles Pellissier found that, on the evidence before him, the bans did not amount to a manifestly disproportionate infringement of the freedoms invoked. That left in force the Bouches-du-Rhône prefecture's order barring those fans from the Vélodrome and five of the city's arrondissements, and the interior minister's ban on travel between the Paris region and Marseille. The game had been rated at risk level five out of five. The group replied that it had lost a legal battle but its fight for supporters' rights goes on.
In our Classique piece on Friday we said the club had not ruled Hakimi out and that the French press expected him not to be risked: he was left out. At 2pm we wrote that there was no ruling on the appeal yet, and that was accurate: the hearing only began an hour later. One date needs correcting: we dated the prefecture's order 28 August, but the ruling refers to an order of 9 September, published on the 10th.
In our match preview the predicted line-ups had ten of the eleven starters right for both sides. The two we missed were Gomes and Ferran: we had them starting, both began on the bench (Maupay and Doué played) and both came on and scored. The matchday preview also got two things wrong. We had Toulouse goalkeeper Guillaume Restes out injured, and he started on Saturday. And we described Yannick Cahuzac as Lens's interim coach after a mutual parting with Dino Toppmöller: on 17 September the club's director said there is no question of Cahuzac being interim, and accounts of how the split happened do not agree.
Ligue 1 results: every game of matchday five
Friday 18 September
Monaco 2-1 Lens — Monaco: Paris Brunner 32', Jonathan Gradit 84' (o.g.). Lens: Matthieu Udol 57'. Here our call was at least two goals, confidence 7 out of 10: correct.
Saturday 19 September
Paris FC 2-1 Strasbourg — Paris FC: Ilan Kebbal 18', Pablo Pagis 57'. Strasbourg: Moustapha Mbow 88' (o.g.). Here our call was at least two goals, confidence 6 out of 10: correct.
Le Mans 2-1 Lorient — Le Mans: Adil Bourabaa 3', Habib Diallo 57'. Lorient: Isak Jensen 78'. Here our call was fewer than five goals, confidence 7 out of 10: correct.
Angers 2-0 Troyes — Angers: Prosper Peter 42', Amine Sbai 57'. Here our call was fewer than five goals, confidence 7 out of 10: correct.
Toulouse 3-2 Le Havre — Toulouse: Casper Tengstedt 49' (pen.), 51', Thomas Jørgensen 79'. Le Havre: Josh Maja 71', Mbwana Samatta 88'. Here our call was fewer than five goals, confidence 7 out of 10: wrong.
Lyon 4-0 Rennes — Lyon: Ernest Nuamah 7', 30', Zachary Athekame 48', Corentin Tolisso 76'. Here our call was at least two goals, confidence 7 out of 10: correct.
Sunday 20 September
Auxerre 2-1 Brest — Auxerre: Cameron Archer 47', Raphaël Le Guen 83' (o.g.). Brest: Pathé Mboup 23'. Here our call was fewer than five goals, confidence 7 out of 10: correct.
Nice 2-1 Lille — Nice: Nathan Ngoy 22' (o.g.), Mohamed Amoura 67'. Lille: Ayase Ueda 79'. Here our call was fewer than five goals, confidence 8 out of 10: correct.
Marseille 1-2 PSG — Marseille: Angel Gomes 72'. PSG: Ferran Torres 66', Marquinhos 74'. Timothy Weah (Marseille) sent off on 77 minutes for a second yellow. Here our call was at least two goals, confidence 7 out of 10: correct.
The rest of the round
On Friday Monaco beat Lens 2-1 thanks to an 84th-minute Gradit own goal from a driven Vanderson cross, and are clear at the top with four wins and a draw. It was Lens's first game under Yannick Cahuzac, after the club parted company with Dino Toppmöller on Tuesday 15th.
Paulo Fonseca's Lyon, 4-0 winners over Rennes, have the best defence (two conceded) and the best goal difference (+8). Franck Haise had made seven changes from Wednesday's European tie and took the blame pitchside: when you make seven changes and concede four, he said, the fault is his.
Liam Rosenior's Paris FC beat Hugo Oliveira's Strasbourg 2-1, the visitors' goal an 88th-minute own goal by Mbow. Rosenior was facing the club he left for Chelsea in January. The away fans abused him during the game, and at the final whistle he went to celebrate in front of their section, which led to a scuffle between the players. Rosenior said some supporters had disrespected his family and that it had gone too far.
Patrick Videira's Le Mans beat Alexandre Dujeux's Lorient 2-1 for their first Ligue 1 win since 2010: they are back in the top flight after 16 years, promoted as Ligue 2 runners-up. Stéphane Gilli's Angers beat Stéphane Dumont's Troyes, last season's Ligue 2 champions, 2-0.
In Toulouse it was goalless at the break, then came five goals in 39 minutes, the first two from Tengstedt. It is the first league win for Jens Berthel Askou's Toulouse; Didier Digard's Le Havre are bottom on their own with two points.
On Sunday Will Still's Auxerre came from behind to beat Julien Lachuer's Brest for a second straight win. Olivier Pantaloni's Nice beat Davide Ancelotti's Lille 2-1, Lille's first league defeat. It is Nice's first league win of the season, and their first home win in the regular Ligue 1 season since 29 October 2025 (in May they did win the relegation play-off against Saint-Étienne at home).
Ligue 1 standings after matchday five
# | Team | Pts | P | W | D | L | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 13 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 8-3 | |
2 | 11 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 10-2 | |
2 | 11 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 8-3 | |
4 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 8-4 | |
4 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 8-9 | |
6 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8-7 | |
7 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6-5 | |
7 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 10-10 | |
9 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 9-9 | |
9 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 7-12 | |
11 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 7-8 | |
11 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5-6 | |
11 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 7-9 | |
11 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3-6 | |
15 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 9-9 | |
15 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4-11 | |
17 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 7-8 | |
18 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 4-7 |
Monaco top the Ligue 1 table on their own with 13 points. Lyon and Paris FC have 11, Lille and Rennes 10, and PSG are sixth on their own with eight. Then come Angers and Strasbourg on seven, Le Mans and Auxerre on six, Brest, Lorient, Toulouse and Nice on five, and Lens and Troyes on four. Marseille are 17th with three and Le Havre bottom with two. Teams level on points are listed by goal difference, then goals scored.
Our match calls: eight out of nine
We had a call on each of the nine games, published on Thursday in our matchday five preview: eight correct and one wrong. All nine were about the number of goals: five for fewer than five goals and four for at least two. Three results (Auxerre v Brest, Nice v Lille and Marseille v PSG) have not yet been settled on the site, so we worked them out from the 90-minute scores.
The miss was Toulouse v Le Havre: our call was fewer than five goals, confidence 7 out of 10: wrong. It was 0-0 at half-time, and the fifth goal, the one that took it over the line, was Samatta's on 88 minutes.
Player calls
We published 10 player calls. Five have been settled, all correct: Esteban Lepaul (at least one shot on target), Mbwana Samatta (at least one shot and at least one on target: his 88th-minute goal is the one that sank our match call), Yassine Belkhdim (at least one foul) and Luca Koleosho (at least one shot). A sixth, Folarin Balogun to have at least two shots, is under review and not counted for now.
The other four, from Sunday's games, are not settled yet and we will count them when they are: Ueda (at least one shot on target), Doumbia (at least two shots), Sinaly Diomandé and Ajorque (at least one foul).
The break: Ferran to Wembley, Lepaul and Restes with France
Ferran Torres and Fabián Ruiz are in the Spain squad for the Nations League. Spain play England at Wembley on Saturday 26 September: our call is fewer than five goals, confidence 7 out of 10.
Rennes striker Esteban Lepaul and Toulouse goalkeeper Guillaume Restes have their first call-ups from Zinedine Zidane. On Sunday night Lens goalkeeper Robin Risser withdrew with a physical problem, and Zidane called up Como's Jean Butez for the first time. France play in Turkey on Friday 25th (our call is fewer than five goals, confidence 6 out of 10) and in Belgium on Monday 28th (our call is at least two goals, confidence 6 out of 10).
Ligue 1 returns on Friday 9 October with Lens v Lyon, and Saturday 10th includes PSG v Le Mans and Lille v Le Havre. Our calls on matchday six will come with the round preview.
Every game with our calls is on the Ligue 1 page and on the Nations League page. The record of settled calls is in the results history, and our calls on individual players are in the player predictions section.
