French champions PSG begin Ligue 1 defence with Lille liaison

Dominant French champions PSG will start the defence of their Ligue 1 crown with a trip to Lille, as Laurent Blanc aims to continue his side’s domestic dominance this season.

The Parisians secured back-to-back league titles last term after another supreme campaign, and come into their opening 2015/16 clash following an impressive pre-season under their belts.

PSG are 4/1 with Coral to triumph on their travels with both teams getting on the scoresheet, as they face the 2011 champions, who are 4/1 to cause a major upset at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy.

It’s fair to say the home side do not enjoy this fixture against the men form the capital, though, having emerged victorious only five times in the last 38 meetings, with PSG celebrating 25 occasions.

Blanc believes his men are ready for the new season, despite what he described as a ‘chaotic’ summer of preparations, having played a friendly in Austria before heading to Canada and America, where they won the International Champions Cup.

“We had a chaotic preparation,” stated Blanc. “The players arrived at different times. So it was not the best collective preparation. But we dealt with it, the staff dealt with it.

“We try to catch up [lost time] by doubling the training sessions. Sometimes we worked with four working groups. It’s not always easy.”

Despite the chaos, the French capital club managed to overcome the likes of Manchester United, Fiorentina and Benfica, so they do arrive in fine form, with boss Blanc unfazed by being labelled massive favourites.