Paris (AFP)

Duel on the podium!

Rennes, second in Ligue 1, receives Monaco, third, on Saturday for the 4th day of the championship which will send the leader Saint-Étienne to Nantes and Paris SG to Nice in front of empty stands on Sunday.

- The shock: Rennes-Monaco

Guaranteed show?

At Roazhon Park on Saturday (9:00 p.m.), two of the most refreshing teams from the start of the season compete to stay on the podium.

Rennes, second (7 pts) and the most prolific team with 7 goals, receives Monaco (3rd, 7 pts), whose young people impress under the leadership of new coach Niko Kovac.

Of the four players to have scored this season with Monaco, the oldest, Axel Disasi, is ... 22 years old.

Benoît Badiashile, 19, already has two goals to his credit.

And Sofiane Diop and Willem Geubbels, 20 and 19 respectively, were the scorers on Sunday when Monaco climbed to the podium thanks to their 2-1 victory over Nantes.

"I have the feeling that their coach has already impacted them in a significant way, in any case on the style he wants to give to his team, and on the positions of the players on the field", praised the Rennes coach. , Julien Stéphan.

He can also count on a youngster, Eduardo Camavinga, sensation of Ligue 1 and already international at only 17 years old.

And on an attack that spent four in Nîmes the previous day.

- The team: Saint-Etienne

Who would've believed that?

After three days, it is Saint-Etienne who prances at the head of the championship, taking advantage of the very small workforce of PSG and the missteps of Lyon and Marseille, which the Greens went to chastise Thursday at the Vélodrome.

Sunday (5:00 p.m.), the Greens travel to Nantes with a clear record: 3 matches, 3 wins, with the same price: 2-0 each time.

Claude Puel's team benefits from an excellent start to the season from its veteran Romain Hamouma, 3 goals, and his goalkeeper Jessy Moulin, the only one with Bordeaux Benoît Costil not to have conceded any goal since the start of L1 .

Moulin, 34, easily forgot the icon Stéphane Ruffier, still in the workforce but shelved for refusing to be No. 2.

Against the Canaries, irregular so far (1 victory, 1 draw, 1 defeat), he will have to extend his series of "clean sheets" (match without conceding a goal).

So that Saint-Etienne keeps his head one more day.

- The threat: the coronavirus

Sullen reception for Paris SG.

In Nice, the reigning French champions will play in an empty stadium, the fault of the progression of the coronavirus.

In the Alpes-Maritimes, as in Gironde and Bouches-du-Rhône, three of the departments most affected by the pandemic, the maximum level of spectators allowed at the stadium has been lowered from 5,000 to 1,000 by the prefects.

If the Olympique de Marseille chose to stick to the gauge, welcoming 1,000 spectators against Saint-Etienne, the Girondins de Bordeaux and Nice have given up on opening their stands.

"With regard to our supporters, it was already complicated to be limited to 5,000 people. Today, it is 1,000. Once you deduct the whole organization, you practically reach this figure" , lamented in a statement the President of the Riviera Jean-Pierre Rivère, who had already decided to go in camera for the reception of Lens, on August 23 for the first day.

The coronavirus will also have important consequences on the PSG attack.

Kylian Mbappé, tested positive during a rally with the France team, has resumed individual training and coach Thomas Tuchel maintains the suspense on a possible return of the prodigy.

This would bode well for the Parisians, still deprived of Neymar who is serving his suspension after his exclusion from the "Clasico", and who have had all the trouble in the world to score goals since the resumption.

Mauro Icardi and Angel Di Maria, already holders Wednesday during the victory in extremis against Metz, should be aligned once again.

But you will have to watch them on TV.

Friday

Lyon - Nîmes 0-0

Saturday

(5:00 p.m.) Lens - Bordeaux

(9 p.m.) Rennes - Monaco

Sunday

(13h00) Nice - Paris-SG

(3:00 p.m.) Brest - Lorient

Metz - Reims

Montpellier - Angers

Strasbourg - Dijon

(5:00 p.m.) Nantes - Saint-Etienne

(9 p.m.) Marseille - Lille

© 2020 AFP