Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe reunited? Not yet!

It is the first match day in Ligue 1 since the World Cup. Table leaders Paris St. Germain meets the relegation candidate Strasbourg. On paper, the division of roles is clear. The bookmakers see it that way and give Paris just under 1.25 odds of a win. In fact, there is hardly anything to suggest that Strasbourg will win away from home. The club is having a disastrous season and has only won one game this year.
Ligue 1 will also start again after the holidays. On Wednesday it is the turn of the series champion Paris St. Germain.

The league leaders meet Strasbourg in the course of the 16th matchday. As expected, the hosts are currently at the top of the table, but by their standards they only have a narrow lead of 4 points over 2nd-placed RC Lens. They want to extend this lead further with a win against Strasbourg. On paper, Strasbourg doesn't have too much to oppose the leaders of the table either. After a strong last season, it's extremely difficult this year. With only 11 points in the account, the club has been fighting relegation so far this year. 

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Paris Saint-Germain analysis

The two superstars met just a few days ago in the World Cup final. Lionel Messi had the better of it there, claiming the world title with Argentina. The relationship between the two superstars has already been discussed several times, and they shouldn't be best friends even after the finale. On the field, however, both are important supports at Paris Saint Germain. However, it is doubtful whether they will be used in the game against Strasbourg. Messi is currently on vacation in his hometown and Kylian Mbappe could get a break from coach Christophe Galtier.The use of Neymar is currently still questionable. A strong B-eleven could therefore be used in Paris. But even with this they would still have a good chance of winning the championship title in France.

Only once in the past 10 years did Paris St. Germain not become champion in Ligue 1. The team is therefore a series champion and hard to beat for the other teams. Nevertheless, the club decided to change coaches in the summer and this time brought a Frenchman to the sidelines in Christope Galtier. With the best team in the country, the championship title is of course a must. However, the big goal of the club is to continue to win the Champions League. 

Paris has not lost a game this season. In the league, 13 out of 15 games were won. The only draws were at home against Monaco (1-1) and away at Stade Reims (0-0). Both offensively and defensively they are the measure of all things in Ligue 1. On average they are responsible for almost 3.00 goals per game. They also managed to keep a clean sheet in 9 out of 15 games. In total, they only had to concede 9 goals. 7 of them at home. However, this was enough for 6 home wins in 7 games.

In Group H of the champions league, Paris had to settle for second place behind Benfica Lisbon. In the end, with 15 points, they had exactly the same number of points as the group winner. The two games against the Portuguese ended in a draw. However, they won the remaining 4 games. With 7 goals conceded in 6 games, however, they were quite vulnerable on the defensive. In not a single game did the star ensemble manage to remain without a goal. In the round of 16 they will meet FC Bayern Munich again.

Strasbourg analysis

After a difficult promotion season 2020/21, the club had a lot of fun last season and achieved an outstanding 6th place in the table. This meant that international business was only missed by a hair's breadth. The club can only dream of this this year, because after 15 match days they have arrived in the relegation battle. With only one win on their account, they currently occupy the penultimate place in the table. Only Angers has collected fewer points so far. To get out of the relegation zone they need a win against Paris. But they haven't managed to do too many of them this year. 

The balance sheet shows that the team is not completely without a chance. With 8 draws already, they are the draw kings in Ligue 1. As a result, they often miss out on a win. Only a victory is still a yield that must not be glossed over. The team managed to do this away from home. On the 10th day of the game, they beat Angers, bottom of the table, by a narrow margin of 2:3. Since then they had to wait 5 games for a win again, at least 3 times they got a draw during this time, also in the last league game so far against Lorient (1-1). Furthermore , thanks to the victory against Angers, Strasbourg have lost only one of their last 3 away games in the league.The main problem here is the defensive, because in the last 4 away games they have always conceded at least 2 goals.

After all, the club is in the good 13th place in the away table and thus well above the normal position. In 7 away games, they always scored 10 goals and thus significantly more than one goal per game. In general, Strasbourg only failed to score once away from home this year. The tendency here is increasing, because in the last 3 games alone they scored 7 goals away from home.

Although the team could only score 17 goals in 15 games this year, they are a strong strike duo. 11 of those 17 goals were scored by Kevin Gameiro and Habib Diallo. Apart from Lebo Mothiba, no other player in the squad has more than one goal. There is definitely potential in the team, otherwise they would not have reached 6th place last year. With a squad market value of just under €100 million, they are already among the 11th most valuable teams in the league. In the game against Paris, coach Julien Stephen will first and foremost look for a stable defense and will probably be waiting for counterattacks. All players in the squad should be available to him, there is no injury-related absence.

Paris Saint-Germain - Strasbourg: What to expect? 

This duel was clearly one of the most attractive in Ligue 1 in recent years. In the last 4 games, more than 3.5 goals were scored here. Strasbourg has also played its part in this, after all they have scored a strong 6 goals against the clear favorites in the last 3 duels. The last duel so far ended with a deserved 3-3 draw. Before that, they had to admit defeat to Paris for the fourth time in a row. It's been a few years since Strasbourg last won, and it happened in the 2017/18 season when they narrowly won 2-1 at home. In total, they have been waiting for a win against the hosts for 10 games.

Paris is the clear favorite due to several factors in this game. The hosts are still completely undefeated this year and have won 6 of 7 home games. Although some stars could be missing, we even believe in a handicap tip (0-1) in favor of PSG. At the same time, we also believe that Strasbourg could score. The guests have scored at least 7 strong goals in the last 3 away games. With odds of 1.84 BTTS betting market is also very lucrative.

• Paris Saint-Germain to win with (-1.5) handicap at odds of 1.70 
• Both Teams to Score at odds of 1.85

* All odds and markets are correct at time of publication and subject to change.