37 down, 1 to go. And at the end of the penultimate week, almost all outstanding issues look like having been resolved a week early.

After a 2-1 win at Montpellier, PSG have sealed their third straight Ligue 1 title. The reigning champions had all but mathematically sewn it up in any case, but those three points, allied to Lyon’s 1-1 draw at home to Bordeaux, sealed the deal.

At the bottom of the table, Evian’s 2-1 home defeat at the hands of Saint-Etienne confirmed ETG’s relegation, alongside Metz and Lens.

Les Verts’ win keeps them in fifth place and in with a chance of the final Champions League place. They remain level on points with Marseille, who confirmed their return to form with an awesome 4-0 win at Lille, and the two challengers remain two points behind third-placed Monaco, who struggled to break Metz down but a Bernardo Silva goal with the last touch of the first half helped them to a 2-0 win.

For what it’s worth, the big movers of the weekend were Reims, who jumped up three places and confirmed their Ligue 1 safety after a 1-0 win over Rennes. Rennes’ local rivals had mixed results: Nantes and Lorient shared the points after a 1-1 draw, while Guingamp defeated Toulouse 2-1.

Elsewhere, Nice came from behind to defeat lanterne rouge Lens 2-1, whilst Bastia and Caen played out a 1-1 draw.

Player of the week, for having a hand in all four of Marseille’s goals and reminding his fellow Ligue 1 professionals how ridiculous they were to not have him in their top 4 players of the year, is Dimitri Payet. Joining him in the season’s penultimate XI are:

Goals of the Week

Honourable mentions to Claudio Beauvue and Blaise Matuidi, who both applied excellent finishing touches to lovely team moves. And also to Anthony Mounier, though we think his goal had more to do with Sirigu than anything else. Our top three however, is as follows:

Third place goes to Lyon’s Nabil Fekir. After a Lopes save to keep Lyon from going two down, les Gônes broke and a superb Ferri pass released Fekir on the left. He showed great strength to outfight the not inconsiderable Sané, before slotting past Carrasso.

In second place is Beauvue’s Guingamp teammate Christophe Mandanne, who met a long Jacobsen cross with a fabulous acrobatic volley past Ali Ahamada.

This week’s winner is Max-Alain Gradel’s first for Saint-Etienne. OK, it was a horrific miskick from Mongongu, but the apparently England-bound Gradel showed great awareness and anticipation to seize on the error, and fantastic ability to power a first time shot past Leroy and into the top corner.

Tune into @FrenchFtWeekly for next week’s Ligue 1 finale, with another Saturday night multiplex, where Monaco visit Lorient, Marseille host Bastia and Saint-Etienne welcome Guingamp, all hoping to grab the final Champions League place.