PSG’s title challenge is back on track

With the swine flu doubt cleared up, Paris Saint Germain picked up their first win since the 30th August on Sunday, beating Sochaux 4-1.

After years of struggling the Paris side finally had a good season last year, finishing 6th and only missing out on a Champions League place due to their very poor form in the last league games, picking up only 4 points from a possible 15.

With the Ligue 1 very open this season and unpredictable (Sochaux, the side that PSG beat quite comfortably, won at Lyon just two weeks ago), this just might yet turn out to be a successful season for the two-times French Champions, PSG.

A lot of this will depend on Benin international Stéphane Sessegnon. The PSG play-maker played a vital role last season and ended up being named in the Ligue 1 Team of the Year. Sessegnon didn’t start this season well and has been in line for quite a lot criticism.

Attacking wise, he’s seen as a key player for the PSG midfield, as manager Antoine Kombouaré, who arrived this summer from Valencienne, is well known as a defensive minded coach, who likes to play with two defensive midfielders. Funnily enough, both who played against Sochaux, Clément Chantôme and Jérémy Clément, scored, but the main attacking threat is carried out through the middle with Sessegnon.

Especially this time, as last seasons top scorer Guillaume Hoarau keeps stuggling with a knee injury, which has seen him only appear in 7 league matches with a return of a single goal. The former Le Havre stiker hit 17 league goals last season, finishing joint-second with Karim Benzema, with Toulouse’s André-Pierre Gignac leading the table with 24 goals.

Hoarau was also a key player last season, a real bargin, as he was bought for only €500,000 and this summer Lyon already offered €10m for his services. The Réunion born striker has also being a part of the French national team and if there is to be anyone in the end of Stéphane Sessegnon’s clever passes, he has to be back to full fitness sooner rather than later. Even though his back-up, Mevlüt Erdinç, summer signing from Sochaux, hasn’t done too bad so far with 3 goals from 5 matches, hitting one to his former employers net on Sunday.

And if the performance against Sochaux is anything to go by, we’ll definitely see Paris Saint Germain near the top of the league table come the end of the season.