Lille OSC ran into a minimal defeat on Saturday in an unexciting duel with Clermont Foot. A visit to the club that was promoted from Ligue 2 last season, it became 1-0. It was already the fourth season loss for lesson Dogues, which dropped to eighth position in the top French division. Sven Botman was missing due to a groin injury he sustained last Tuesday in the game between the Dutch Juniors and Young Wales. According to L’Equipe the stopper will be out of circulation for about four weeks, which is a hard blow for the team of coach Jocelyn Gourvennec.
In an unexciting first half hour, the biggest highlight was a cross from former FC Groningen defender Gabriel Gudmundsson. Renato Sanches, however, just couldn’t get his foot against the ball. Clermont’s 1-0 came out of the blue in the 32nd minute. After a low cross from the right, the ball landed through a scrimmage about twenty meters from the Lille goal; Vital N’Simba didn’t hesitate for a moment and rammed the leather into the bottom right corner. Timothy Weah, the visitors’ striker, was dangerous for Clermont keeper Arthur Desmas in the remainder of the first company, but in terms of highlights it stayed that way.
In the second act little changed in the game image. In the end, it took until the 82nd minute for Lille to make a serious attempt to equalize. Yusuf Yazici, who had entered the squad for Sanches, steamed up and reached the trailing José Fonte. The shot that followed, however, was easily parried by Desmas. It immediately turned out to be the last achievement of the match and the equalizer did not come. Due to the defeat, the top of the ranking for Lille remains out of sight for the time being.
| No. | Team | m | W | G | V | +/- | Pnt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paris Saint Germain | 10 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 27 |
| 2 | RC Lens | 9 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 18 |
| 3 | OGC Nice | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 16 |
| 4 | Angers | 10 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 16 |
| 5 | Marseille Olympia | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 14 |
| 6 | AS Monaco | 9 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 14 |
| 7 | lorient | 9 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 14 |
| 8 | Lille OSC | 10 | 4 | 2 | 4 | -2 | 14 |
| 9 | Nantes | 9 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 13 |
| 10 | Olympique Lyon | 9 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 13 |
| 11 | Clermont | 10 | 3 | 4 | 3 | -7 | 13 |
| 12 | Stade Rennes | 9 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 12 |
| 13 | Strasbourg | 9 | 3 | 2 | 4 | -1 | 11 |
| 14 | Montpellier | 9 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 10 |
| 15 | Reims | 9 | 2 | 4 | 3 | -1 | 10 |
| 16 | Girondins de Bordeaux | 9 | 1 | 4 | 4 | -9 | 7 |
| 17 | Troyes AC | 9 | 1 | 3 | 5 | -6 | 6 |
| 18 | Metz | 9 | 1 | 3 | 5 | -8 | 6 |
| 19 | Stade Brest | 9 | 0 | 4 | 5 | -8 | 4 |
| 20 | Saint Etienne | 9 | 0 | 4 | 5 | -10 | 4 |