Hello again, time for the last last top-5 league prediction, it's Ligue 1 time!
As always I’ll start with a quick rundown of a league.
Of course, PSG winning the league. They are miles above everyone in the table, and no doubt that they’ll become champions.
Then we move to the more interesting teams: Lille is a surprise of a season. Last year they were 1 point from relegation, but this year they surprised everyone. Their coach is a genius and transformed their team. Nicolas Pepe is a headliner of the league. There’re a lot of great players in Lille and few of them will be in my predictions.
3rd team is Lyon. Kinda average season from Lyon. In my opinion they could’ve perform much better, but 3rd place and place in Champions League would be satisfying end to their season. There’re a lot of young stars in a team, like Ndombele and Ferlan Mendy, who are wanted by a lot of top clubs.
After that it’s really close race to the Europa League spot. Saint-Etienne performing well, Marseille performing below their expectations, Montpellier again playing decently, like a last year. Reims is a surprise of the season. Funnily enough they scored the same amount of goals as conceded at the moment. Then we have Nice under the management of Patrick Vieira. And they don’t concede a lot of goals.
Monaco really crumbled this year. A lot of problems in a team after they sold a lot of their stars. Jardim probably saved them from relegation and it’ll be interesting to see what they’ll manage to do in the summer.
Now let’s try to predict TOTS. It’ll be hard, but I’ll try to do my best.
There won’t be a lot of alternative choices because it was hard enough to pick 23 players.
Starting with Goalkeepers: Walter Benitez is my main choice, as he performed amazingly throughout the whole year. A lot of MOTM performances, a lot of clean sheets. Deserved TOTS in my opinion.
2nd spot goes to Benjamin Lecomte. Goalkeeper from Montpellier performing 2ndseason in a row and performing well.
Alternative choice to him would be probably Anthony Lopes from Lyon. Not a lot of clean sheets, but still a really strong season from Portuguese goalkeeper. Might miss out on TOTS just because he hasn’t keep a lot of CS.
Moving on to defenders: Let’s start with some obvious choices: Thiago Silva and Marquinhos from PSG are the best defenders in Ligue 1 statistically and not. Without them PSG defense is really bad. Marquinhos even scored 3 goals. Other CBs from PSG aren’t even worth mentioning in my opinion.
Other CB that worth mentioning is Marcelo from Lyon. Another great season from Brazil player and leader of defense of Lyon.
Other defender from Lyon is Ferland Mendy is my choice for Left-Back position. Not a lot of good left-backs this season and Ferland Mendy deserves a spot in TOTS. He scored 2 goals and got 1 assist and really consistent player.
For starting right back is Kenny Lala. Fan favorite FUT player. Got 4 goals and 9 assists, praised by a lot of players and of course he’ll get TOTS. Other choice for Right-Back is Youcef Atal. Statistically the best Right back in the league. Young star of Nice, also scored 3 goals. Played everywhere on the right wing. From RB to even right-wing. And I have 3rd Right-back from Ligue 1. Mattheu Debuchy had another strong year and got 4 goals and 2 assists to his name.
Alternative choice is Aguilar from Montpellier. Wouldn’t be surprised if we get Aguilar instead of Debuchy. Other 2 should be locks in my opinion.
Moving on to midfielders.
We have some obvious choices and not so obvious choices.
Let’s start with Tanguy Ndombele. Impressive Lyon youngster had great season and probably will get a transfer to “bigger” club in the summer. One of the better CMs in the league.
Real big surprise to me: Thiago Mendes from Lille. One of many Lille players that impressed me this season. Mendes really good defensive midfielder and will be a decent TOTS in terms of FIFA (also links to Neymar).
Teji Savanier is statistically best CM in the league. 5 goals and 11 assists from mid-table team. Nimes is really surprised me as I had them to be relegated before the end of the season. Savanier is a leader and amazing player.
If we observe CAM position there’re 3 main candidates. Angel Di Maria, Nabil Fekir and good ol’ Ben Arfa.
Angel Di Maria, along side with Mbappe are the best players from PSG in my opinion. Angel really impressed me and perfectly replaced Neymar after his injury. 9 goals and 10 assists and played everywhere: CM, CAM, LM, ST, RM, but shined to me at CAM the most.
Nabil Fekir had another great season, but worse than previous years: 9 goals and 5 assists. Still, of course, he’ll get TOTS, but he hasn’t played all of the games in the league. 20 games and 5 sub appearances. His TOTS will still be great.
Hatem Ben Arfa returned to his best after 2 bad years in PSG. Rennes picked him up and I don’t think that they regretted it. 7 goals and 2 assists in 21 games. Rennes might not be the top team this year, but they have some great performers. And Ben Arfa would be a fun-fun card.
Moving on to wingers.
Of course, Nicolas Pepe. Magnificent season from Ivorian. And his TOTS will be insane card, as he already got 5 IFs and maybe he’ll get one more? 19 goals and 11 assists. Amazing numbers.
Neymar… Yeah, it’s debatable. Really debatable. Only 13 games played before injury, but those 13 games were really good. His numbers are better than the most players in the league. 13 goals and 6 assists. Would it be enough for any other league or player? I think yes.
Flo Thauvin. Exactly same numbers as Neymar: 13 goals and 6 assists. In 27 games. He should get TOTS and he’s one of few Marseille players that deserve TOTS.
Jonathan Bamba is another winger from Lille. Not as impressive as Pepe, of course, but still 11 goals and 2 assists from Jonathan. Not much competition for his position, but he should be decent TOTS.
And that last part: Strikers.
Kyllian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani are both strikers from PSG. Mbappe should be ST, because he played most of the season at ST. 27 goals and 7 assists. Insane numbers. Of course he’ll be in TOTS.
Edinson Cavani played around 16 games, but got 17 goals and 4 assists. Should be getting TOTS, in my opinion, because, again, not much competition.
Other 2 choices for Stiker position are: Andy Delort from Montpellier with 11 goals and 7 assists and Wahbi Khazri from Saiont-Etienne with 13 goals and 5 assists. And I can’t even name more alternatives because Strikers in Ligue 1 are really not that prolific. Maybe, just maybe, Moussa Dembele from Lyon stands a chance, but IMO it depends on the end of the season.