Ligue 1 Heading for Classic Relegation Battle for the Ages

As the domestic campaigns enter their final few weeks across Europe, all eyes turn to each end of the table to see who will be crowned champions and who will be banished to the depths of the league below.

While most eyes will be fixed on the battle between Chelsea and Man U in the Premier League, a more intricate scenario is unfolding in the forgotten league across the channel.

Ligue 1 has been the ugly sister of major leagues in Europe for several years due to the defensive style of play and its low goals per game average.

Yet from these shortcomings, an incredible scenario is unfolding in the battle to avoid relegation.

With Arles-Avignon basically relegated since the early parts of the season, teams have been left scrambling to remain out of the final two relegation spots.

RC Lens appears to be an almost certainty for relegation as they currently sit nine points from safety with five games remaining.

This basically leaves only the final spot left to worry about, yet over half of the teams in Ligue 1 could still find themselves as the final relegated team. Currently there are only four points separating 18th place AS Nancy (the final relegation spot) and 11th place Toulouse in Ligue 1.

A look at the Ligue 1 table as of May 2 shows how tight the margin is at the bottom, along with the mathematical possibility that the eighth and ninth place teams could fall into relegation if they hit a bad run of form over their last five games.

8.   Bordeaux               45 pts

9.   St. Etienne             45 pts

10. Montpellier             44 pts

11. Toulouse                 42 pts

12. Brest                       41 pts

13. Valenciennes          39 pts

14. Monaco                   39 pts

15. AJ Auxerre              39 pts

16. Caen                        39 pts

17. Nice                         39 pts

18. AS Nancy                38 pts

19. RC Lens                  30 pts

20. Arles-Avignon          14 pts

In looking at the schedule over the final weeks, there is an incredible 25 games out of the 50 remaining that involve teams that could still mathematically be relegated. 20 of those matches are between the teams currently in eighth through 19th place.

While the battle at the bottom heats up, the race for the title in Ligue 1 could be greatly affected as both Lille and Marseille play three games each against teams fighting to stay above the drop zone.  

Based on the remaining schedule Caen, AS Nancy, AJ Auxerre, Valenciennes and AS Monaco all have to navigate through multiple games against the top six, leaving the scenarios for who stays and who goes limitless.

With clubs like Auxerre, Montpellier and Bordeaux still sweating relegation after competing for Ligue 1 honors in the past two years, Ligue 1 is giving us one of the most interesting end of season battles ever. N'allez pas n'importe où.