France's big guns fire warning salvo

The Ligue 1 summit may have a familiar look to it at the half-way stage of the season with seven-time champions Olympique Lyonnais once again riding high. Scratch below the surface, though, and the sight of three of the country's heavyweights flexing their muscles suggests the title race could have a long way to run.

Big guns back
Shocks are the lifeblood of football and ironically this year in France the biggest surprise of all is to see traditional powerhouses Olympique de Marseille, FC Girondins de Bordeaux and Paris Saint-Germain FC occupying three of the top four spots at the mid-point of the campaign. For the past 15 years, French football fans have grown more accustomed to seeing the likes of AS Nancy-Lorraine, Le Mans UC 72, LOSC Lille Métropole, CS Sedan-Ardennes, EA Guingamp and OGC Nice punching above their weight and proving that astute signings and sound investment can take a club a long way.

Ambitious PSG
With Bordeaux winning at Le Mans UC 72 on Saturday, however, and PSG doing the same at AJ Auxerre, coupled with the goalless draw on Sunday between Lyon and Marseille, it is OM, Bordeaux, and PSG occupying places two through four. The big three have reached the season's mid-point locked on 32 points, joint second and just three adrift of Lyon. "The team has got better in every area, but we still have room for improvement," PSG coach Paul Le Guen said. Summer signing Stéphane Sessegnon, who scored both his side's goals at Auxerre, added: "We want to be level with Lyon. It's not easy given their ability and experience, but in Paris we must be ambitious."

OM hungry
Bordeaux pushed Lyon to the final day last season and will hope that experience holds them in good stead this time round. "We're still on the right path," defender Marc Planus said after the win in Le Mans, with his coach Laurent Blanc declaring: "Lyon remain above us and are favourites for another crown. We'll just do the best we can." Since succeeding FC Nantes Atlantique as champions in 2002 Lyon have made the most of the weaknesses of their rivals. With three of the nation's powerhouses now in the hunt, Lyon will not have that luxury. "We feel close to first place," OM coach Erik Gerets said before the draw at Lyon. Marseille are both the most successful French side, having amassed ten league titles and ten French Cups, and the most popular, averaging 55,000 fans per game. Having not won a major domestic trophy since 1993, they are also the hungriest.

'Danger'
"All those teams and some others are a danger for us," Lyon coach Claude Puel said. "We have been the team to beat for years and continue to be so this season." For the man who lead AS Monaco FC to the title in 2000 and Lille into the UEFA Champions League twice, the pressure is mounting. Jacques Santini, Paul Le Guen, Gérard Houllier and Alain Perrin have all led Lyon to the title over the past seven years and Puel has no desire to be the man who ends that winning run.