PARIS (AP) — Ligue 1 leader Paris Saint-Germain hosts third-placed Strasbourg on Friday with just one point separating them.

While PSG’s position at the top is no surprise, Strasbourg — owned by Chelsea’s parent company BlueCo since 2023 — is exceeding expectations.

The team features homegrown talents and has been flourishing since English coach Liam Rosenior took over. This season, Strasbourg became the first team in the history of the five major European domestic leagues to field 11 starters born in 2000 or later, according to Ligue 1 statistics.

The faith in youth is bringing dividends. With 14 goals in seven matches — the third best attack in the league — and the competition’s top scorer, Argentine forward Joaquin Panichelli, Strasbourg travels to the Parc des Princes full of confidence after routing Angers 5-0 before the international break.

Behind PSG, Marseille and Lyon are level on points with Strasbourg. Combining defensive stability and attacking efficiency, Marseille will chase a sixth win against Le Havre on Saturday.

Lyon looks to bounce back at Nice following a home loss against Toulouse.

Monaco’s new manager Sébastien Pocognoli gets his first taste of Ligue 1 at Angers. Monaco is fifth, three points behind PSG.

After struggling to live up to the early hype of becoming the next Lionel Messi at Barcelona, Ansu Fati has found a new lease on life at Monaco.

Fati joined the Principality side this summer on a seasonlong loan in a bid to revive his injury-hit career and, so far, it’s paying off.

Fati scored twice from the penalty spot in a 2-2 draw against Nice before the international break and set a new record: Since the 1947–1948 season, no player had needed so little time — just 126 minutes — to score five goals at the start of a Ligue 1 career with a new club. He surpassed Johan Audel, who took 137 minutes for Valenciennes (2007–08) and Emmanuel Rivière, who needed 174 minutes for Monaco (2013–14).

Fati also is the the league joint top scorer with Panichelli,

Marseille striker Amine Gouiri could miss the Le Havre match after suffering a right shoulder injury in a collision with Uganda’s goalkeeper while playing for Algeria.

PSG will still be without captain Marquinhos but forwards Bradley Barcola and Ousmane Dembélé could return in time for the Strasbourg match.

The hot topic of the week is Dembélé’s future at PSG ,and the club’s need to re-evaluate his wages following his Ballon d’Or win.

But with tighter financial fair play rules and reduced TV revenues, PSG is wary of returning to the wage levels once paid to Messi and Neymar (around 30 million euros net annually).

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