Perhaps it’s a good thing that we have an international break coming up next week! After a couple of high-octane rounds of Ligue 1 football, this week was a little more subdued as some players began to look tired and the tension of the end-of-season run-in begins to affect teams at both ends of the table.

PSG go into the break at the top of the table – amazingly for the first time this season. Their 3-1 win over Lorient was pretty standard – early lead, Lavezzi misses, arrogantly take their foot off the pedal, opponent comes back, end up with unconvincing win thanks in part to a dodgy penalty. After last week’s distasteful headlines, Zlatan generated better ones this week, with a hat-trick (two pens) and a generally good display.

The defending champions are now a point ahead of Lyon, after they surprisingly fell to a 2-1 home defeat to Nice, despite les Aiglons playing half an hour with ten men. Lacazette was missed, Gourcuff got injured, Kone and Dabo ended up playing in defence… Lyon’s squad was looking very thin by Saturday evening.

Talking of Saturday evening, there’s very little to talk about, with only four goals in five matches. Three of them came at Toulouse where new coach Dominique Arribagé oversaw an impressive 2-1 win over Bordeaux. That win could have put Evian under severe pressure but a late goal secured them a crucial 1-0 win over Montpellier and a little more breathing space. Caen-Metz, Bastia-Guingamp and, most disappointingly, Rennes-Nantes, ended goalless and don’t deserve any more attention.

On to Sunday, then, which began with Saint-Etienne coming out on top of an entertaining match with Lille, winning 2-0 after Rony Lopes was sent off early in the second half. That victory put them provisionally fourth for a couple of hours, until they were leapfrogged again by Monaco, who showed that it is actually possible to come back from progressing in the Champions League and yet still treat Ligue 1 with humility and class, as they came away from Reims with a 3-1 win.

The weekend finished as it had begun, in Paris, as Lens hosted Marseille. A superb second-half display gave Bielsa’s men a 4-0 win – that’s now 10 goals in two away games. Michy Batshuayi said during the week that he would love to score at the Stade de France; he did better than that, scoring a double! Only two points now separate the top three, with eight matches remaining…

Player of the week for an all-round great performance and two goals (even if the second took about seven deflections on the way in) is Max Gradel. Joining him in the TOTW are:

Goals of the Week

Not many to choose from this weekend, but it was a question of quality over quantity as some lovely goals were scored.

In third place is Max Gradel’s first for Saint-Etienne. Lemoine sent Clerc free on the right with a great lofted pass and his low cross came to Gradel who turned Corchia brilliantly, before slamming his shot past a stranded Enyeama and into the top corner.

In second place is Diego’s consolation goal for Reims. Played in down the left by a great De Preville pass, the forward hit an excellent first-time shot across Stekelenburg from an angle to give his team false hope. Special mention for Anthony Martial’s goal for Monaco in the same match – a peach of a lob over Agassa.

This week’s winner is Carlos Eduardo’s opener for Nice. Bodmer flicked on a Bauthéac corner and the Brazilian went airborne to hit a fantastic overhead kick through a crowded area and into the net.

International break next week but Ligue 1 returns the weekend of April 3, with a fixture list bookended by two huge matches. On Friday evening Monaco host Saint-Etienne in a game that could help determine European places. And on Sunday evening Marseille host PSG in the small matter of the Classique, which could help determine the title! Stay tuned to @FrenchFtWeekly and @FFW_Live.