Football: As Chelsea loom, PSG take title roadshow to Cote d'Azur

Football: As Chelsea loom, PSG take title roadshow to Cote d'Azur

PARIS - With Chelsea looming large on their horizon, Paris Saint-Germain are at Nice on Friday where victory will take Laurent Blanc's team 13 points clear of Monaco at the top of Ligue 1.

With eight games left, Blanc's reigning champions are virtual shoo-ins to defend their title, as befits a side enjoying the largesse of their mega-wealthy Qatari owners.

PSG have lost just one league game since March 2013 and last week's 1-0 win at Lorient was a club record eighth consecutive win in all competitions.

The trip to the French Cote d'Azur comes five days before PSG welcome Chelsea in the Champions League quarter-finals.

Next Wednesday's first leg will inevitably be weighing heavily on the minds of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and co., and a result in Nice will be the perfect fillip ahead of the meeting with Jose Mourinho's Premier League leaders.

Aside from the glory of being crowned kings of Europe Ibrahimovic and his teammates have been promised a one million euro bounty by PSG's owners should they win European football's holy grail this year.

But despite their record-breaking run Blanc was quick to point out that there's still a long way to go before any silverware ends up on PSG's sideboard.

"We are doing really good stuff since the beginning of the season, that gives us pleasure, but for the moment we haven't won anything," he said after Lorient.

Nice are a gaping 35 points adrift in mid-table, yet manager Claude Puel urged his players to put to one side the identity of their guests when they take to the pitch on Friday evening.

"I'd like us to be able to play our game," he told his club's official website.

"What interests me is my team's progress and how they perform rather than focusing on our rival, even if it is Paris Saint-Germain."

Friday's lone game is followed by a full programme on Saturday featuring Monaco at Evian with on Sunday Saint-Etienne at Lyon in a battle of third and fourth.

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