Paris Saint-Germain will hope to stave off second-place Lens, who sit just eight points behind them in second place. The two sides will meet for their Matchday 17 contest on New Year’s Day with a 2:45 p.m. ET kickoff from Stade Bollaert-Delelis. You can catch all the action on beIN SPORTS, where all the Ligue 1 matches are televised throughout the season.
Let’s take a closer look at this battle at the top of the table, with odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook.
Lens v. Paris Saint-Germain
Date: Sunday, January 1
Time: 2:45 p.m. ET
TV channel: beIN SPORTS
Live stream: fuboTV, Fanatiz
Odds, picks & predictions
Lens: +265
Draw: +250
Paris Saint-Germain: +105
Moneyline pick: Lens +265
It’s not very often you see PSG sitting at plus odds in a league matchup, but considering they’ll be going against the second place team without the services of Lionel Messi, it makes a lot of sense. Messi hasn’t returned to Paris yet following Argentina’s World Cup win, though manager Christophe Galtier stated the superstar will fly back to France on New Year’s Day and join the team for training again in the following days.
PSG narrowly escaped their match against Strasbourg with all three points, thanks to a 90th-minute penalty kick from Kylian Mbappe to secure the 2-1 win on Wednesday. Marquinhos scored their first goal, then was credited with an own goal in the second half to bring the match back on level footing. It wasn’t the performance you’d expect from the league leaders as they should have handled 19th-place Strasbourg with a little more comfort, but they still got all three points nonetheless.
Lens haven’t been able to get a win over PSG since September of 2020 when they were able to escape with a 1-0 victory, thanks to a second half goal from Ignatius Ganago, who now playes for Nantes. Their last meeting came in April of last season, which resulted in a 1-1 draw with Messi scoring the lone goal for the Parisians.
In addition to missing Messi, Brazilian star Neymar will be sidelined for this match as well after receiving two yellows in the match against Strasbourg. PSG is also without Presnel Kimpembe (Achilles), Ranto Sanches (contusion), and Nuno Mendes (thigh). It’s the perfect opportunity for Lens to sneak in a win and hand PSG their first loss of the season as they inch a little closer to the top of the table.