Ligue 1 season preview

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• AJ Auxerre
• Girondins Bordeaux

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  • Lille
  • Lorient
  • Montpellier
  • Nancy
  • Nice
  • Olympique Lyonnais
  • Olympique Marseille
  • Paris St Germain
  • Sochaux
  • St Etienne
  • Stade Rennes
  • Toulouse
  • Valenciennes

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• Ligue 1 fixtures
• Ligue 1 table
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Marseille and Lyon head into the new Ligue 1 season on the back of heavy summer spending sprees as they look to wrest the title out of the grasp of reigning champions Bordeaux.

Les Girondins claimed their first French title in 10 years back in May to end Lyon's domestic hegemony that stretched back to the 2001/02 campaign.

Defending their crown may be an even tougher test for Laurent Blanc's men, whose pre-season form suggests they will hit the ground running when they take on promoted Lens in their opener on Sunday.

For Marseille and Lyon have spent more than 100million euros between them in the close season, sizeable amounts at a time when most clubs are tightening the purse strings.

OM, under new coach Didier Deschamps, have made 10 signings this summer, including those of Gabriel Heinze, Lucho Gonzalez and Fernando Morientes.

Lyon have lost Karim Benzema, Juninho and Kader Keita but have spent 70million euros on Lisandro Lopez, Bafetimbi Gomis, Aly Cissokho and Michel Bastos.

Strongest

Bordeaux have a settled look to their side and the permanent signing of playmaker Yoann Gourcuff - who starred on loan for them last season - from AC Milan and the purchase of Jaroslav Plasil makes their midfield the strongest department of their team.

They have beaten the likes of Marseille and Villarreal in pre-season and eased past Guingamp in Montreal last week to defend the Trophee des Champions.

These three clubs will surely battle it out for the title, just as they did last season, when Bordeaux clinched it on the final weekend.

Deschamps said: "We are at the starting line. We are going to begin at Grenoble and then we are off for the next 10 months.

"The excitement is there."

Lyon coach Claude Puel is also ready for the off, saying: "We have all the weapons at our disposal. All there is left to do now is put it all into action.

"We have the signings we wanted."

The group of teams looking to break into the top three may grow this season. After a couple of years in the doldrums, Paris St Germain moved into that company last season and should stay there.

The capital club have a new coach, Antoine Kombouare, and a new striker, Mevlut Erding, who should form an exciting partnership with Guillaume Hoarau up front.

"I know we have some potential here," said Kombouare, who quit Valenciennes to move back to the team he starred for as a player.

Rennes, Lille and Toulouse, who have managed to keep hold of top scorer Andre-Pierre Gignac, are other clubs in that second-tier group. Monaco, who now have former Rennes and PSG coach Guy Lacombe at the helm, may also be in there.

As for the promoted clubs, Lens are back in the top flight where they belong.

Bonne chance

Les Sang et Or were regular top-half finishers before they were surprisingly relegated at the end of the 2007/08 season, but they have bounced back at the first attempt.

Montpellier and Boulogne-sur-Mer are the other two teams to have made the leap up and they have automatically been made favourites for the drop.

Lorient have sold key players Fabrice Abriel (Marseille), Michael Ciani (Bordeaux) and Christophe Jallet (PSG) this summer and could struggle, as could Valenciennes without the wily Kombouare.

Le Mans and Grenoble could also be possible relegation candidates.

St Etienne, one of the most famous and successful teams in France, only survived on the final weekend last term and will surely do better this season now coach Alain Perrin has had a summer to rebuild.

Auxerre, Nice and Nancy remain unknown quantities and their finishing positions are as difficult to predict as ever.