Lille tries to hold off PSG in tight French title race

<p>MONACO &mdash; Lille has no intention of looking back on Angers with any regret this Sunday as an enthralling French league campaign reaches the final round.</p>
<p>Lille has a slender one-point lead over defending champion Paris Saint-Germain, which narrowed the gap last weekend to keep the pressure on. Third-place Monaco is an outside contender as it trails Lille by three points. It needs both its rivals to lose and win by a large enough margin to overtake Lille on goal difference.</p>
<p>Lille could have made things easier but drew last weekend to give PSG a glimmer of hope.</p>
<p>But as Lille’s players trudged down the tunnel after a 0-0 home draw with Saint-Etienne last weekend, veteran Turkey striker Burak Yilmaz issued a strong rallying cry to his teammates. </p>
<p>“We will be champions, you are dogs of the fight,” he shouted in English. “We will be champions next week, you will see!"</p>
<p>They were aptly chosen words from Yilmaz, considering Lille’s nickname is “Les Dogues” (The Mastiffs).</p>
<p>The outcome of an intense title race, which has achieved the rare feat of resonating beyond France, will be known around 11 p.m. on Sunday.</p>
<p>Lille and PSG are both away from home, and PSG may just have the tougher match. </p>
<p>Lille can guarantee a sixth French title and first in 10 years with a win at 12th-place Angers, which is safe from relegation and has nothing to play for. </p>
<p>PSG is at 16th-place Brest — which is fighting to stay up — and must better Lille’s result to avoid losing the title for the first time since Monaco won it in 2017. </p>
<p>Brest is only one point ahead of Nantes in 18th and the promotion-relegation playoff spot. </p>
<p>Nantes, which is led by former PSG coach Antoine Kombouare, has made a superb late push to stay up against the odds.</p>
<p>Nantes is aiming for a fifth straight win when it hosts a Montpellier side which has nothing to play for, aside from giving coach Michel Der Zakarian a good sendoff in his last game in charge. </p>
<p>So Brest can ill afford to drop points against PSG, which is chasing a record-equaling 10th French crown to join Saint-Etienne and Marseille.</p>
<p>Monaco still has a shot at a ninth title, but only just as it has to make up three points and an inferior goal difference of six compared to Lille.</p>
<p>If Monaco loses then Lyon could overtake the principality side and sneak into third for the Champions League qualifying slot.</p>
<p>Lyon is at home to Nice in what could be star forward Memphis Depay’s last game ahead of a touted move to Spanish giant Barcelona next season.</p>
<hr />
<p>More AP soccer: <a href="https://apnews.com/hub/soccer">https://apnews.com/hub/soccer</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/AP_Sports">https://twitter.com/AP_Sports</a></p>