CIES Football Observatory predict the final standings in Europe's top five leagues

Ligue 1

Can Falcao lead Monaco to the Ligue 1 title?

Paris Saint-Germain changed the French footballing landscape when the cash-rich owners went on a shopping spree and brought some of the best players to Ligue 1 all those years ago. Prior to their dominance in the league, five different teams won it in a period between 2008 and 2012.

Since then, it has been the PSG show – until the 2016/17 season. Following the departure of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, PSG seem to have lost their way. They are currently in third place – five points behind league leaders Nice.

Led by goals from Alassane Plea and the resurgence of Mario Balotelli, OGC Nice have topped the table as winter champions and have a slender lead over AS Monaco where Radamel Falcao has found a new lease of life.

However, CIES predicts Monaco to eventually finish top of the table and finish a solitary point ahead of PSG. Nice are only expected to finish third with Lyon in fourth place.

Final Pos	Team	Points	Current Pos
1	AS Monaco	79	2
2	Paris Saint-Germain	78	3
3	Nice	72	1
4	Lyon	69	4
18	Dijon	40	15
19	Lorient	40	20
20	Metz	39	19