Runaway leaders Paris Saint-Germain host third-placed Angers in Ligue 1 today, with star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic in towering form as a series of eight games in three weeks awaits the French champions.
Elsewhere, Marseille’s visit to Lyon is a clash of struggling giants tomorrow.
A massive 21 points ahead of second-placed Monaco, PSG’s midweek French Cup win delivered by a late Ibrahimovic goal means Laurent Blanc will be rotating his line-up in their seven scheduled games before Chelsea’s visit in the Champions League on February 16.
“We have to get through this month of January, which is difficult with this crazy schedule,” Blanc said after the come-from-behind 2-1 home win over Toulouse.
On current form it is hard to imagine PSG allowing Ibrahimovic, whose contract expires in June, to leave at the end of the season. The Swede took his club goal tally in all competitions to 20 in midweek, but he is also the leader of the team, dictating matters on the pitch and also ruling the roost in the dressing room.
So the Swede will start at the weekend while Edinson Cavani, linked with a switch to Manchester United this week and increasingly isolated both on the pitch and off it, may make way for Brazilian forward Lucas.
“Rotating the team all the time is making PSG a little sluggish,” former France and Liverpool coach Gerard Houllier told sports daily L’Equipe this week, before praising the club’s fitness coaches as the reason why PSG were hurting rivals in the latter stages of games.
“They are aiming at being ready by March and they’ve got real experts in the fitness domain,” said Houllier. However, PSG have several stars in the sickbay in Thiago Silva, Marquinhos, Javier Pastore and Marco Verratti.
Visitors Angers tumbled out of the Cup on Tuesday with a 2-1 home defeat to Bordeaux.
Fixtures
Today
Paris Saint-Germain v Angers
Lille v Troyes
Montpellier v Caen
Guingamp v Bastia
Nice v Lorient
Nantes v Bordeaux
Tomorrow
Monaco v Toulouse
Reims v Saint-Etienne
Lyon v Marseille
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
