Lens were the darlings of French football last season. The northern club, who have a storied history – including a league title in 1998 – have played a scintillating brand of football under Franck Haise since their promotion to the top flight in 2020. They raised their game even further last season, losing just four matches and pushing eventual champions PSG all the way, missing out on the title by a single point.
Led by the impressive goalkeeper Brice Samba and the best defence in the league, their counterattacking brio was a thing of beauty. Their defence – Jonathan Gradit, Facundo Medina and Kevin Danso – was retained in the summer despite heavy interest in Danso, but they did lose a few key players, including the all-action midfielder Séko Fofana and the striker Loïs Openda, who scored 21 goals after arriving from Belgium.
They had a terrible start to the current campaign. A defeat at Brest, who were expected to be relegation fodder, began the season on a bad footing. That result looks better in hindsight given the Bretons’ strong start, but an ugly loss to Monaco and another at home to Metz meant Lens picked up just one point from their first five league matches. To make things worse, Stijn Spierings – one of the players signed in the summer to replace Fofana – returned to Toulouse after failing to settle, leaving Lens to draft in Nampalys Mendy on a free.
They started to turn things around with a creditable draw at Sevilla in the Champions League, with Mendy impressing, and a home win over Toulouse. Les Violets, who won the Coupe de France earlier this year, are not performing as well as they did last season, but it was an important step in the right direction for Lens. Wesley Saïd led the line and summer signing Elye Wahi – who was brought in to replace Openda – came off the bench and helped put his former club to the sword with an energetic performance in attack. It looked like Lens had really turned a corner.
Since then, Lens have won away to Strasbourg – always a challenging trip – and enjoyed a famous 2-1 win over Arsenal in the Champions League. Wahi, who is still just 20, has been involved in four goals in those three matches. The club’s other summer additions – including former France international Ruben Aguilar on the right flank and attacker Morgan Guilavogui – also look to be settling as well.
The Derby du Nord on Sunday offered another stern test and more evidence that Lens are getting back to their best. Lille have been a fearsome team under Paulo Fonseca and there is no love lost between the two sets of fans, even if they are often at different ends of the table. The fixture is one of the most anticipated on the calendar and it had all the energy one would expect. Lens dominated the match and will feel they should have done better than a 1-1 draw.
With Wahi only available off the bench and Jonathan Gradit suspended, the hosts put out a somewhat makeshift side, but the squad players showed they have the depth to handle Haise’s high-octane style. In the first half, they peppered Lille goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier’s net with chances and felt aggrieved when they were not awarded a penalty for a handball by Lille defender Alexsandro. Lens were punished for missing their chances when Benjamin André headed home from a corner on the stroke of half-time to give the visitors the lead.
Despite the setback, Lens continued to harry Lille in the second half, content to let Fonseca’s possession-based style play into their hands. Salis Abdul Samed missed a golden chance, heading over the bar, before substitute Deiver Machado equalised after a well-worked move. Lens were all over their derby opponents – one of the league’s better teams since Fonseca’s appointment – and deserved the three points.
It seems Lens are well and truly back. They have a favourable run of fixtures after the international break along with a crucial pair of matches in the Champions League against PSV Eindhoven. They are still only on eight points in the league, so there is still plenty of work to be done to reinsert themselves into the conversation about European places, but what had looked like a severe drop-off a month ago now looks like a mere blip. Given the players they signed, and the fact they retained both Haise and their vaunted defence, they are more than capable of competing on two fronts this season.
Quick Guide
Ligue 1 results
Show
Marseille 3-0 Le Havr
Brest 1-1 Toulouse
Lyon 3-3 Lorient
Lens 1-1 Lille
Rennes 1-3 PSG
Metz 0-1 Nice
Reims 1-3 Monaco
Strasbourg 1-2 Nantes
Talking points
Monaco and Nice both won again this weekend to stay first and second in the table, with Francesco Farioli’s unbeaten Aiglons just a point behind leaders Monaco. Monaco put three past Reims in seven minutes on their way to a 3-1 win, while Nice beat Metz 1-0. Both sides look ruthlessly efficient. With PSG just two points behind the leaders, we could be in for an exciting title race that echoes the 2016-17 season, when the three sides played a series of memorable encounters before Monaco ultimately won the league.
Montpellier have been one of the league’s more impressive sides this season, with summer arrivals Akor Adams and Musa Al-Taamari catching the eye. The return of Michel der Zakarian last season was a masterstroke by the club. They have started the season impressively and would have moved up to sixth in the table had they beaten Clermont on Sunday. However, all that hard work is now under threat due to the actions of one of their supporters. They were leading 4-2 in injury time when a fan in the home end threw a firecracker at the Clermont goalkeeper Mory Diaw while he was preparing to take a goal-kick. The keeper was carried off on a stretcher and the game was abandoned. Montpellier may have to forfeit the match or even face a points deduction. The club’s president, Laurent Nicollin, spared no ire in castigating the fan responsible, but it’s hard to see the club escaping without some sort of punishment.
Nantes had a tough start to the season. They lost Ludovic Blas, Andy Delort and Andrei Girotto in the summer and then lost their first two matches of the campaign. They have rebounded impressively though, picking up 11 points from their last six games. They drew with Marseille and Monaco before winning three of their last four matches – including their 2-1 victory at Strasbourg on Friday night. La Meinau is never an easy place to go but Pierre Aristouy’s side were incisive throughout, with Florent Mollet and Marcus Coco combining well on the right, and Rennes loanee Matthis Abline looking far sharper than he did at Le Havre last season. The season is long but Nantes are going in the right direction under Aristouy.