Marquinhos’ own goal in the 5th minute was all Marseille needed to hand PSG their first Ligue 1 defeat of the season. The champions have an ideal opportunity to bounce back when they host Auxerre at Parc des Princes.
The first edition of Le Classique this season was very unusual. PSG wanted to reschedule the game due to the Ballon d’Or ceremony and got denied, which meant the team was forced to play without a few of its major stars, including Ousmane Dembele. This led to Luis Enrique playing a back five, which is something we’ll probably not see again for a while. And it resulted in PSG losing by an own goal in the 5th minute. Mistakes were made and we can guarantee they will try to give Auxerre a hard beating.
As for the visitors, the early stage of the season has been full of ups and downs. With two wins and three defeats, it is maybe better than what people anticipated, but it confirms that top teams can expect easy points at home against them. A positive is that Auxerre scored in four out of their five games to date. The main issue is that one goal seems to be their absolute maximum.
How the bookies view it: Incomparable chances
Paris Saint-Germain are overwhelming favourites whenever they play at Parc des Princes, and their odds are almost non-existent ahead of this match. You can pick them at just 3/20, while Auxerre are available at 14/1. The draw is also unlikely at 7/1.
Recent head-to-head: PSG won with ease
Auxerre’s last triumph over PSG dates back to the 2010/11 season, when they managed to win both games. But this was two years prior to the beginning of PSG’s dominance in Ligue 1. Since then, the teams have met seven times and the Parisians won five. Last season, the match in Paris ended 3-1.
Players to watch: Ramos needs goals
Luis Enrique will be forced to manage without several key players again, as Ousmane Dembele, Joao Neves, Bradley Barcola, and Desire Doue have not been confirmed as match-fit yet. However, there are more than enough options in his squad and we’ve picked Goncalo Ramos as our primary target. The 24-year-old has not yet found the target in Ligue 1 this season and he had 10 goals in the previous term. He needs to improve if he wants to continue getting more minutes once the stars return from their injuries.
Probable line-ups
Paris Saint-Germain: Chevalier, Hakimi, Zabarnyi, Beraldo, Hernandez, Zaire-Emery, Vitinha, Ruiz, Mendes, Ramos, Kvaratskhelia
Auxerre: Leon, Senaya, Siwe, Sierralta, Mensah, Akpa, Sinayoko, Owusu, Danois, Loader, Mara
Anything else catch the eye?
Betting on a clean sheet seems like the safest option in this match, especially given the odds for most of the usual markets are completely useless. Auxerre won two matches 1-0 but really showed nothing special and definitely nothing that could hamper PSG’s defence.
We also don’t expect an extreme thrashing with half of Enrique’s squad in the treatment room, so we don’t recommend betting on the over/under markets. While we are sure that PSG will win, we can’t guarantee if they will score more than 2-3 goals.
GambleAware