Mbappe, Messi and Savanier headline Team of the Week

Paris Saint-Germain survived a scare against Nantes to win comfortably while Montpellier hammered bottom-of-the-table Angers 5-0 in a dominant display. Both PSG and Montpellier have players highlighting the PulseSports’ Ligue 1 team of the week, just as these clubs highlighted the weekend’s action. 

Former Arsenal goalkeeper Vito Mannone put in an inspired performance for Lorient and kept his team in the game against Lyon with a string of impressive saves. 

Mannone made five saves in total, with four of those coming from inside the box and three from big chances. 

Guinean full-back Issiaga makes the Ligue 1 team of the week (again) after an impressive performance in Montpellier’s 5-0 hammering of bottom club Angers. 

Sylla assisted Montpellier’s fourth and fifth goals, helping Teji Savanier and Sepe Elye Wahi increase La Paillade’s lead and see out a complete rout of Angers.

Another former Arsenal player, centre-back Saed Kolasinac, inspired Marseille to a 1-0 away win over Rennes by scoring the winner just before the hour mark. 

It was his fourth goal of the season and helped Marseille recover from a recent slump in form that saw them lose to PSG and get knocked out of the Coupe de France by Ligue 2 team, Annecy. 

While Kolasinac’s biggest contribution was in the opposition box, his teammate Leonardo Balerdi held the fort in Marseille’s box with an incredible defensive performance that was as important as Kolasinac’s offensive contribution. 

Balerdi made an incredible 13 defensive actions, including five interceptions, four blocks, two tackles, and two clearances, while also winning five of six attempted aerial duels. 

Nice right-back Jordan Lotomba was one of the best full-backs on display in Ligue 1 and helped Le Gym to a 1-1 draw against Auxerre by providing the assist for Gaëtan Laborde’s equaliser. 

Lotomba created four chances in the match against Auxerre, but also made four interceptions and two clearances in a solid display from the Swiss international. 

Clermont’s Tunisian midfielder Saîf-Eddine Khaoui was the man of the match in their 1-0 win against Toulouse after scoring the winner in the Ligue 1 fixture.

The 27-year-old created four chances for his teammates in the win against Toulouse, but after seeing other players fritter away those chances, he took matters into his own hands, scoring a sensational curler from the edge of the “D” to give Clermont their first win since January. 

Another impressive performance from Khephren Thuram in the middle of the park, this time against Auxerre. 

Thuram was assured in possession and was lively throughout the 90 minutes, driving Nice forward with his timely runs and intricate passing. Thuram registered more shot-creating actions than any other player on the pitch including helping to create the biggest chance of the match when he won a penalty just before half-time. 

Teji Savanier was arguably the best player in Ligue 1 this past week and led Montpellier’s assault on Angers in a 5-0 win at Stade de la Mosson. 

Savanier scored a brace and created a big chance as Montpellier romped to their third win in five games. 

He scored Montpellier’s second goal from the penalty spot and scored Montpellier’s fourth, taking advantage of Sylla’s cut-back to rifle his shot into the top left corner. 

Lionel Messi reached another milestone by scoring PSG’s opening goal after only 12 minutes against Nantes in Ligue 1. 

The goal was his 799th senior career goal complimenting his 201 assists to make up his 1000th goal contribution in all competitions.

Wissam Ben Yedder moved to second on the Ligue 1 top scorers’ charts with another Brace against Troyes. 

Ben Yedder scored two quick-fire goals, within three minutes of one another in the 80th and 83rd minutes as he helped Monaco overturn a deficit against Troyes. 

He scored Moonaco’s equaliser and thought he has scored the winner with his second goal, but Monaco eventually conceded late on to share the spoils with Troyes. 

Like his PSG teammate, Messi, Kylian Mbappe also reached a career milestone with his goal against Nantes. 

Mbappe scored PSG’s fourth goal to make the win over Nantes certain and in doing so reached his 201st goal for Les Parisiens, becoming the club’s record goalscorer at the age of 24.