Ousmane Dembele scored twice in the first half as Paris Saint-Germain beat Saint-Etienne 2-1 on Sunday to sit seven points clear at the top of the Ligue 1 table halfway through the season. Dembele opened the scoring with an individual effort on 13 minutes and then netted a penalty midway through the first half as PSG threatened to run riot against struggling opponents. However a Saint-Etienne side sitting in the relegation play-off place stemmed the tide and managed to pull a goal back through a Zuriko Davitashvili free-kick on 64 minutes.

PSG, who won the French Champions Trophy last weekend against Monaco in Doha, nevertheless held on and have won 13 and lost none of their 17 domestic league outings this season.

“I would like to congratulate Saint-Etienne because I loved the way they played, with no fear, attacking and pressing high. They were very daring and brave,” said PSG coach Luis Enrique, whose team maintained their habit of being wasteful in front of goal.

“Since the start of the season we have created lots of chances but struggled to score goals, but I think tonight we played pretty well in general,” said the Spaniard.

His side are on course to claim an 11th title in 13 years, with this victory at the Parc des Princes coming in response to nearest challengers Marseille’s 2-1 win away at Rennes on Saturday.

Roberto De Zerbi’s Marseille side look like the only potential rivals for Paris in the second half of the season, with third-placed Monaco now 12 points adrift of the leaders after a 2-2 draw at Nantes on Friday.

Man City on horizon

PSG are building towards a crunch Champions League clash at home to Manchester City on January 22, and Luis Enrique rested numerous key players here.

Captain Marquinhos was not involved at all, while Willian Pacho, Warren Zaire-Emery, Joao Neves, Vitinha and Desire Doue all began on the bench.

Instead there was a first start this season in defence for Lucas Hernandez, who has recovered from a knee injury, and 18-year-old prospect Senny Mayulu came into the midfield.

Saint-Etienne were looking to build on a victory at home to Reims last weekend in their first outing under new Norwegian coach Eirik Horneland.

They looked lively in the opening minutes, with Georgian winger Davitashvili forcing an early save from Gianluigi Donnarumma, but PSG soon seized control.

Dembele opened the scoring before the quarter-hour mark, the France winger cutting in from the right flank and firing low into the near corner on his left foot from just inside the box.

The hosts then won a penalty when an Achraf Hakimi cross struck the arm of Leo Petrot inside the box, with the referee pointing to the spot after being called across to the VAR screen.

Dembele sent the goalkeeper the wrong way from the spot for his second goal of the night, and his 10th of the campaign in Ligue 1.

Bradley Barcola then thought he had made it three before half-time only for his strike to be disallowed following another VAR review for a foul on Benjamin Bouchouari.

Saint-Etienne have notably lost 8-0, 5-0 and 4-0 on their travels this season but they pulled one back here just after the hour mark when Davitashvili curled his free-kick around the wall and in from 25 metres.

That made the final scoreline respectable, although the only sides behind them in the standings are the bottom two, Le Havre and Montpellier.

“All in all, Paris were by far the best team, but we fought until the last kick, and that I am happy with,” said Horneland, who arrived from SK Brann in his homeland.

Le Havre lost 2-1 at home to Lens earlier, despite taking the lead through Andre Ayew, with debutant Goduine Koyalipou and Deiver Machado scoring for the away side.

Rock-bottom Montpellier had two men sent off as they went down 3-1 at home to Angers, for whom Esteban Lepaul scored twice.

A brace by Emanuel Emegha helped Strasbourg to a 2-1 win at Toulouse.

Paris Saint-Germain have developed a reputation over the last decade as being one of Europe’s most glamorous clubs, albeit without ever claiming the Champions League glory so coveted by their Qatari owners. Now, however, a team stripped of superstars is drifting dangerously towards mediocrity and at risk of an unthinkable early exit from the continent’s elite club competition. PSG are in Austria on Tuesday to face Red Bull Salzburg in what is a must-win game if they are to avoid being eliminated from the new-look Champions League before the knockout phase.

The top 24 teams at the end of the league phase go on to the knockouts, but the French champions are currently 25th with just four points and three goals scored after five matches.

Ten points may be needed to advance and Luis Enrique’s team still have tough games against Manchester City and Stuttgart to come, meaning the pressure is on in Salzburg.

Runners-up in 2020 and semi-finalists last season, PSG have not gone out of the Champions League before the knockout rounds since 2004/05, when their biggest name was Portuguese striker Pedro Miguel Pauleta.

Since the transformative takeover by Qatar Sports Investments in 2011, PSG fans have become used to seeing glamourous players in their team, from Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Edinson Cavani, to Neymar, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe.

The departure of Mbappe after last season marked a change in policy, with PSG deciding to focus on building a new team with talented but unproven youngsters.

The likes of Warren Zaire-Emery, Joao Neves and Bradley Barcola, all aged between 18 and 22, are now regulars in Luis Enrique’s team, while France winger Ousmane Dembele is probably the most recognisable face.

Empty seats

The change in approach has not stopped PSG from sitting five points clear at the top of Ligue 1, despite drawing their last two matches.

However, their performances in Europe have been sub-standard and often simply mediocre as they have struggled to lay a glove on the likes of Arsenal and Bayern Munich.

Fans are clearly not overly enamoured, with empty seats now a common sight at many PSG home matches at the 48,000-capacity Parc des Princes — that is especially concerning at a time when the club are looking at the possibility of building a much larger new ground in the suburbs.

Without the explosive pace of Mbappe, the skills of Neymar or the charisma of Ibrahimovic, much of PSG’s football under Luis Enrique this season has been one-paced, even boring.

It all raises questions about the future direction for a club that has in recent years established itself as one of the world’s biggest sporting brands.

‘Solid foundations’

“Dream less big” said one headline in sports daily L’Equipe last week, in a twist on the club’s motto of “Dream Bigger”.

“Are PSG beginning a decline,” asked another headline in the same publication, and it will be impossible not to believe that is the case if they fail in the Champions League.

“PSG are the team who score the most goals and concede the fewest in Ligue 1. In the Champions League it is more difficult,” Luis Enrique said after Friday’s 0-0 draw at Auxerre.

“We will go to Salzburg looking to win and score goals. We have no safety net, but that is our aim.”

Luis Enrique knows the spotlight will be focused ever more firmly on him if results in Europe do not improve.

There have been reports in recent days of rifts developing between the Spaniard and leading players said to be unhappy with his management style.

There is also uncertainty about the future of director of football Luis Campos, whose contract expires at the end of the season.

However, PSG president Nasser al-Khelaifi is sticking by Luis Enrique, telling L’Equipe: “We have a strategy for the short, medium and long term and I have full faith in the coach and players.

“Our project has solid foundations and we will keep building on those.”

Those foundations will nevertheless be far less solid if PSG do not rapidly improve in the Champions League, starting on Tuesday.

File photo of Kylian Mbappe.© AFP