A new face at the top of the French championship, surprise teams who are holding their own and supposed big names not necessarily successful this weekend… State of play after the 7th day of Ligue 1 played this weekend.

Change of leader. Surprisingly first, Brest gave way to Monaco, defeating Marseille (3-2) on Saturday evening after a very spectacular match. The Bretons, yet authors of a valuable draw in Nice (0-0) under the Riviera sun on Sunday afternoon, remain on the podium tied on points with the men from the Rock. A sign of a stunning Ligue 1, the podium is completed by Reims, winner of Lyon (2-0). After seven days, few observers would have bet on the presence of Brest, Reims and Nice in the first four places in the ranking.

Silence, we’re sinking. The Lyon boat is in distress and close to hitting rock bottom after the new defeat – the fifth in seven days – against Reims. Without ideas or creativity, OL, now led by Fabio Grosso, who must wonder where he put his feet in the face of so much weakness, finds himself last. “We have no right to be where we are,” says Corentin Tolisso, the club’s child on the verge of tears. I am very touched, we are in a critical situation.” Between a team adrift, overrated players and strangely silent but equally responsible managers, the Rhone club is hard to see. The Champions League dreams proclaimed by the new owners this summer make some people smile or annoy others. Today, Olympique Lyonnais, a monument of French football, is playing its part.

“I liked the personality of the players.” In the absence of a victory for his debut with Olympique de Marseille, Gennaro Gattuso preferred to salute the performance of his men, beaten on Saturday evening by Monaco (3-2) in the shock of the 7th day. In a Louis-II stadium that was not even full, a sign of the disinterest of the inhabitants of Le Rocher for this poster, OM missed the opportunity to regain color after the slap suffered against PSG (4-0) last Sunday.

However, the Marseille team led twice (Ndiaye and Gigot), before being caught and left behind by ASM (doubled by Akliouche and Balogun). Too weak defensively and weighed down by its executives (Aubameyang, Rongier, Mbemba, Lopez) not at the level, Marseille concluded a catastrophic month of September (3 draws, 2 defeats) for a contender for the podium. The project is immense for Gattuso.

Expected this week in the Champions League, against Arsenal on Tuesday evening for the Northerners and Wednesday at Newcastle for the Parisians, the two French representatives in C1 experienced varying fortunes this weekend. Without developing shimmering football, RC Lens signed their second consecutive victory in Ligue 1 on Friday evening against Strasbourg (0-1) thanks to a goal from Wahi. After a cataclysmic start to the season (1 draw and 4 defeats), Franck Haise’s team is taking shape again.

Also read Ligue 1: PSG, the great promises of the summer

A good omen before the gala match against the Gunners in a Bollaert stadium for great evenings. Traveling to Clermont on Saturday afternoon (0-0), Paris SG did not confirm its good performance during the Classic. The fault lies with established and supportive Auvergne residents, but also with less dashing Parisian individuals. Without a precious Donnarumma, Paris could even have conceded its second defeat of the season against the bottom of Ligue 1 (before this day). A real poor performance, not very reassuring before challenging Newcastle and its supporters on Wednesday.