Wendel keen on winning form return

Bordeaux winger Wendel is confident Les Girondins can get back to winning ways at Auxerre and put the disappointment of the defeat at St Etienne firmly behind them.

The champions’ title defence suffered a hiccup last time out as they fell to a surprise 3-1 defeat which saw Lyon overtake them in the Ligue 1 standings.

Wendel has put their first loss of the season down to tiredness and is confident his team-mates will be reinvigorated following the international break.

“I think that there was a lot of tiredness,” the Brazilian told the club’s official site – www.girondins.com.

“Consecutive matches against Rennes and Maccabi Haifa took a lot of energy out of us. An energy that was lacking at St Etienne.

“But we are second in the standings and still firmly on course.

“We’re going to Auxerre for the next match, we’re going to do what’s necessary to pick up the three points and continue to hang onto the top of the standings.”

However, it will not be easy at Auxerre who have picked themselves up after a dreadful start and have not been beaten in the league since losing their opening three games.

Lyon are currently a point above Bordeaux in the standings and they will be looking to maintain the status quo when they entertain Sochaux.

The signs are good for Les Gones who have yet to drop at point at home while Sochaux have lost three of their four away games and are struggling in 14th place.

St Etienne will be brimming with confidence after seeing off Bordeaux and they now find themselves faced with another tricky test as they play host to this season’s surprise packages Montpellier.

The newly promoted side are in third position and only three points behind Lyon.

Having only lost to Marseille this season they will be quietly confident of getting a result and keeping pace with the top two.

Marseille and Paris St Germain will both be looking to kickstart their title challenge when they take on Nancy and Toulouse respectively.

OM have lost their past three matches on the trot and three points on Saturday is a must if they are to stop the rot.

PSG travel to Toulouse a day later and will have to be wary of in-form striker Andre-Pierre Gignac who scored three goals in France’s two qualifying matches.

At the other end of the table, Grenoble travel to Valenciennes still looking for their first point of the season.

They already look likely candidates for relegation as even the side immediately above them, Le Mans, have seven points and they will be hopeful of building on that when they host fellow strugglers Boulogne.

Rennes travel to Lille in Saturday’s other game, while high-fliers Lorient and Monaco both entertain struggling sides in Nice and Lens respectively.