A look at PSG's final six matches before the winter break

PSG now have six games left in what has been a busy and memorable calendar year for the club. A year that saw them lift their first Champions League, win a treble, and reach of the final of this summer’s showpiece event, the Club World Cup. They now have six games left in 2025, four in the league and two in Europe, before the traditional winter break that allows teams from the French League a few weeks of rest over the Christmas and New Years period.

PSG's six-game stretch before the break

Those six games see them first go up against Le Havre at home in the league, and then host Tottenham in the Champions league, before travelling to Monaco in what promises to be an intriguing game at the top of the French first division. They then host Rennes and travel to Bilbao for an away game in Europe against Athletic Club, before finally going to Metz on the 13th of December for their final league game of 2025.

On paper, these fixtures seem quite amenable to the Parisians. At least three of their league games they are strong favourites in, as Le Havre, Rennes and Metz currently lie 12th, 8th and 14th in the table, respectively. Monaco, who seem at least for now to represent the biggest challenge out of the teams PSG will encounter, sit sixth, but have lost their last two games in the league and look slightly bereft of inspiration currently (although the Monégasque will potentially welcome back Paul Pogba in what could be the midfielder’s first home league game in over two years). PSG will hope that these fixtures prove to be as clement as they potentially seem, and will look to extend their lead at the top of Ligue Un, which is currently a two-point advantage over both Marseille and Lens.

Another area PSG will look to work on in the upcoming League games is their attacking form. While their attack has admittedly been heavily blighted by injuries over the course of this season so far, they will be disappointed that Marseille currently have notched four more goals than them this season, and even that Strasbourg and Monaco have both scored the same number of goals. Indeed, it is telling that no PSG player has managed more than four league goals this season, with João Neves and Bradley Barcola the only two to hit that mark. This of course is also due to persistent injuries to star attackers, such as Ousmane Dembélé and Desiré Doué, but Luis Enrique, as well as the PSG fanbase, will hope for some increased potency in front of goal after this international break.

As for their European fixtures, both can appear challenging in their own right, although in fairness neither of the teams PSG will face are by any means European giants. Tottenham will be an intriguing match-up because PSG struggled vs the North London side for long periods in their Super Cup match that took place in August, in which the Champions League winners had to fight back from two goals down to eventually win on penalties. Spurs haven’t had a vintage season so far by any means, but have proven tough to beat under the stewardship of Thomas Frank. They will provide an interesting test for the Parisians.

As for Athletic Club, the Basque side have had a fairly mixed start to the season, struggling to really impose themselves either in La Liga, or really in the Champions League, in which they have suffered heavy defeats at the hands of both Borussia Dortmund and Newcastle already. But Athletic are always capable of creating an intimidating home atmosphere, and surely will look to do so in the face of the visiting European Champions. PSG against must be wary of complacency, although the Parisians have so far been better in Europe than they have domestically this season.