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  • Friday 29 May 2009

    Ligue 1 week 38

    Lille v Nancy
    Toulouse v Lyon
    Lorient v Le Mans
    PSG v Monaco
    Marseille Rennes
    St Etienne v Valenciennes
    Nice v Le Havre
    Caen v Bordeaux
    Grenoble v Sochaux
    Nantes v Auxerre

    As Bordeaux stare down the barrel of a league title, what better preparation than finalising the signing, on a four-year deal, of undoubted player of the season Yoann Gourcuff? Well they have and that's a massive boost to the club as they seek the point they need against Caen to seal their first title for ten years. Caen need to at least match St Etienne's result to stay up and send Les Verts, who are at home to Valenciennes, down. How VA approach this game is they key. They're safe, but their coach, Antoine Kombouaré, has just been announced as moving to PSG. Do they send hom out on a high or, having worked so hard to rescue a seemingly impossible position, is the cue in the rack? Either way, St Etienne would probably prefer to be playing VA than Bordeaux this week. Nantes have to beat Auxerre by a cricket score to stand any chance of staying up. Let's face it: they're gone. It could yet be Le Mans or Sochaux that join Nancy and Le Havre in Ligue 2. Le Mans have a short trip to Lorient and Sochaux are up in the Alps in Grenoble. For either to be sucked in, both St Etienne and Caen need to win. Should that happen, then Marseille suddenly come back into the title frame. They need to beat Rennes at the Vélodrome by any margin and hope Caen do them a favour.

    Lyon bid farewell to Juninho after eight star-studded years. Not a bad return, seven titles in eight years, but his powers have been on the wane for a while. He's off to the Middle East to rake in a decent pension and, after scoring his 100th goal for Les Gones, he goes with everybody's best wishes. Lyon will finish third and they're away at Toulouse who currently occupy fourth and the Europa League place. It should be a decent, open game and André-Pierre Gignac should see himself crowned as top goal-scorer. PSG are level with Toulouse on points and sign off at home to Monaco and they'll fancy their chances of European football in a season that's rather tailed off a little. Nice face Le Havre in a game with absolutely bugger all riding on it, though Nice can celebrate Loic Rémy's international call-up by beating the hapless Le Havre.

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