It’s a complicated trip ahead for the Eaglets tonight in Toulouse. Well placed in 7th position on the table with 54 points, Alain Casanova’s men are coming off a draw in Brest, which followed a logical home defeat against table leader Montpellier.
A victory for Toulouse and slip-ups by Rennes and Saint-Etienne could even propel Toulouse to a promising fifth place, just two points shy of Lyon. Needless to say, determination will be at its peak at the stadium, and it will take a feat for the Nice team to hope to bring back something from the Pink City. However, it’s not an impossible mission when considering the values of René Marsiglia’s group, who have just suffered a home defeat to Lille (0-1) but who have shown good things on the field.
In any case, the fight will be relentless at the end of the 2011/2012 season with a relegation zone changing every matchday, given that the last eight in the standings are within 5 points of each other. Indeed, between Lorient (13th with 38 points) and Sochaux at the bottom (20th with 33 points), the gap is minimal, and three-point victories could disrupt an order not firmly established at any moment.
With very different paths, each team will try to drop as few points as possible because each point will certainly count on the evening of May 20th. For OGC Nice, it’s known that after the trip to Toulouse, they will host Evian (9th – 46 pts) and, finally, travel to face the Lyonnais (4th – 59 pts), whom every Nice supporter hopes will be free of all performance obligations against their protégés. Perhaps it’s Auxerre (17th with 34 points) who seems to have the most challenging schedule with two trips to Bordeaux and Montpellier and hosting Olympique de Marseille. Other matches might even prove decisive among the teams at the lower end of the table with six-point games like Lorient-Dijon or Sochaux-Caen.
In short, the battle will be fierce, and each point taken will no longer be available during each of the three days before the championship closes. With three draws and one victory in the last four matches, OGC Nice can reasonably hope to see the world through rose-colored glasses in the city that shares its name!
The schedule of teams involved in the relegation battle
Lorient (13th with 38 points): hosts Dijon, travels to Bordeaux and hosts PSG
Caen (14th with 38 points): travels to Lille, hosts Sochaux and travels to Valenciennes
OGC Nice (15th with 37 points): travels to Toulouse, hosts Evian and travels to Lyon
Ajaccio (16th with 37 points): travels to Evian, hosts Lyon and travels to Toulouse
Auxerre (17th with 34 points): hosts Bordeaux, travels to Marseille, and hosts Montpellier
Brest (18th with 34 points): travels to Lyon, hosts Valenciennes, and travels to Evian
Dijon (19th with 34 points): travels to Lorient, hosts Toulouse, and travels to Rennes
Sochaux (20th with 33 points): hosts Nancy, travels to Caen, and hosts Marseille.
