PSG saw their title taken away last season as Monaco led by Colombian forward Radamel Falcao mounted an impressive domestic season. The Transfer market preceding the season has seen Monaco lose a lot of their star players. Meanwhile, PSG has conducted the history-making transfer, acquiring the Brazilian Neymar, who moved for a stunning £198M from FC Barcelona. The Ligue 1 has seen a total spending of £522,360,000, a large part of which is generated by just 4 teams in PSG, Lille, Monaco and Marseille, and while Nice and Lille are expected to be up in the league table fighting for top positions, the title race is expected to be a two horse race again with PSG and Monaco.

The French league is one of the first to commence its season, we take a look at the clubs in contention for the top spot.

Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

Many expected the Parisian club to be unchallenged at the top of the French League as they began the campaign after winning the Ligue 1 four consecutive times in the previous seasons. However, last season showed PSG have their weaknesses. Not only did they lose the title but got knocked out of the Champions League after a first round 4-0 victory, which made many question the mentality of the club preventing it from achieving European success despite a squad of superstars, something Manchester City and Arsenal have struggled with as well in the Champions League.

Neymar looks to be the club's answer to all the doubters, meanwhile, they have managed to retain their star midfielder Marco Verratti amidst courting from FC Barcelona. PSG would be hard to shake off in the French league for any team and are expected to run away with the title.

AS Monaco

The current Ligue 1 champions have quite the task on their hands, while they had a very impressive domestic and champions league season last time out, they have lost a number of key players in Benjamin Mendy, Bernardo Silva and Tiemoué Bakayoko, who have left the club for a combined total of £132.75M. The future of the France forward Kylian Mbappe is also in doubt as Real Madrid and Barcelona have been rumoured to be interested in the 18-year-old.

Monaco has made 20-year-old midfielder Youri Tielemans their top signing of the summer, the highly rated Belgian signing for a transfer fee of £22.50M. The upcoming season promises a lot of challenges for Monaco and if Leonardo Jardim manages to drill his team to strong tactics and a stronger mentality, they can compete once again for the top prizes.

OGC Nice

Nice had one of the best starts in the Ligue 1 last season with star striker Mario Balotelli firing in full calibre and the club enjoyed a spell on the top of the table. A dependence on the highly volatile Italian striker proved too costly for the French side as they faded away from top position and lost consistency as the league progressed. Nice have made no remarkable signings in the transfer market and their fans must depend on their manager and star players to give them an exceptional season to entertain any hopes of the title again.