Ligue 1 round 4

Lorient v Le Mans
St Etienne v Grenoble
Lens v Rennes
Sochaux v Monaco
Boulogne v Auxerre
Nice v Montpellier
Lyon v Nancy
Toulouse v Valenciennes
PSG v Lille
Marseille v Bordeaux

Last season's top two go head-to-head on Sunday at the Vélodrome with erstwhile international colleagues Didier Deschamps and Laurent Blanc in charge of the sides. It's Blanc who sees his side sitting pretty atop the standings at this early stage with three wins from three, Deschamps' side a couple of points back, with the main difference between Bordeaux and the rest being that man Yoann Gourcuff. How and why Milan were prepared to let him go, especially once Kaka was on his way, becomes a bigger mystery by the minute. The two clubs had differing fortunes in the Champions League draw, with Bordeaux getting the comparatively easier ride with Bayern, Maccabi Haifa and Juventus in their group while Marseille got Milan, Real Madrid and FC Zurich. Marseille aren't invincible at home and I fancy Bordeaux to shade this one.

Local derby time at Parc des Princes where Lille are the visitors on the back of a good win in Europe having beaten Genk 4-2 on the night. Lyon also won well in Europe thanks to a Lisandro Lopez hat-trick and he's settled quickly into the vacant spot left by Karim Benzema. Lyon face Nancy this week who themselves have started well, though it's difficult to imagine Claude Puel's side having many problems here. Toulouse scraped through in Europe and will have to be better at home to Valenciennes.

Boulogne's decent start can very well continue at home to Auxerre who look clueless at the moment. Not as clueless as St Etienne though, at home to Grenoble this week and chasing Dutch striker Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink. I'm not sure if this is the big name signing the Geoffroy-Guichard faithful. It's derby time up north at Lorient where Le Mans are in town, and down south where Nice take a trip along the coast to Montpellier. Lens have started life back in the top flight pretty well and face Rennes at the Felix-Bollaert and Monaco go to Sochaux in indifferent form.