The fight to beat the drop in Ligue 1 is preposterously tight

Rarely are the clubs battling relegation as prestigious as the clubs chasing the title. However, the combined 16 league titles won by Ligue 1’s current bottom two, Bordeaux and St Étienne, is only three fewer than the 19 shared by the top two, PSG and Marseille. The situation at the bottom of the table illustrates the evenness in French football, both historically and currently. The bottom four sides, including St Étienne – who have won more titles than any other side in history – all sit on 22 points. That competitiveness means Ligue 1 could lose two of its biggest clubs sooner or later.

St Étienne have not won the league title since 1981 and were a Ligue 2 club as recently as 2004, but their relegation would still be shocking. However, their slide down the table has also been inexorable. They were European regulars under Christophe Galtier until his exit in 2017 and somehow finished fourth under the wizened Jean Louis Gasset in 2019, but they have not invested in their squad over the last few years and their football has become increasingly uninspiring.

While other clubs have evolved by developing young players or their tactics, St Étienne have become Ligue 1’s dinosaurs, keeping faith with ageing stars and dour football. Hit hardest by the league’s financial crisis caused by the pandemic and the collapse of a TV rights deal, St Étienne tried to pivot to a focus on young players under Claude Puel. But, without much quality emerging from their academy and minimal help from senior players, they barely survived last season and won just two of their first 21 games this season.

Enter Pascal Dupraz. With Puel finally sacked, Dupraz, perhaps Europe’s most intense coach, was charged with repeating the miraculous escape he