Paris Saint-Germain find themselves in strange territory.
The defending French champions go into their fourth Ligue 1 game of the season still chasing their first league win. It’s a start that has them 14th in the table, just one point clear of the relegation zone.
Of course, the table is unlikely to look this way in 31 games’ time. And PSG will still be favourites to win another Ligue 1 title.
But just why are PSG down in the dumps? And is there any danger of them enduring a slump of a season?
The stats behind PSG’s poor start
Tough fixtures
To start off with, the early fixture list hasn’t been kind to PSG. All of their first three opponents of the league season finished in the top seven in 2025/26, securing European football. Opening opponents Rennes finished sixth last season, only missing out on Champions League qualification by one point. They had also won their last game against PSG, beating the French champions 3-1 at home in February. PSG did well to come from two goals down to earn their point, thanks to Ferran Torres.
Next up were Lille, who join PSG in the Champions League this season thanks to their third-placed finish in 2025/26. Another away game, PSG had only won one of their past three visits to the Stade Pierre-Mauroy, with two draws. But they hadn’t lost to Lille since 2021. That run looked to be ending in August, with Lille 2-0 up going into injury time. Again, though, PSG were able to scrape a draw thanks to goals from Vitinha and Marquinhos.
The run of late goals came to an end in PSG’s third match, against Monaco. This was the defending champions’ first home game of the season, against the side who finished seventh in 2025/26. It was also a Monaco side that beat PSG home and away in the league last season, and gave them a fright in the Champions League. And Monaco are now unbeaten in their past three games against PSG, with two wins, including the 2-1 victory at the Parc des Princes last weekend.
Missing focal point
For all their attacking stars, PSG have struggled in front of goal this season. At it’s most basic, a team like PSG should not be sitting mid-table for goals scored, with five so far. The main problem has been their accuracy. PSG rank third in the league for their 60 shots, with only Brest (72) and Rennes (68), managing more. But they have hit the target with just 19 of those. While they still rank sixth in that metric, their accuracy (31.67%) is among the worst in the league.
However, PSG are one of the best teams in the league in terms of the quality of their finishing. Luis Enrique’s side rank seventh for their 5.92 Expected Goals in Ligue 1 this season, and third for 7.86 post-shot xG. The improvement of +1.94 is also the third-best in the league. So PSG are actually improving their chances of scoring based on their shot placement.
PSG’s main attacking problem right now, is the lack of a single player to take the attacking responsibilities. Eleven players have taken at least 10 shots in Ligue 1 this season. And there isn’t a PSG name among them. It’s even worse for shots on target, with no PSG man in the top 20. Desire Doue and Vitinha lead PSG for both shots (nine) and efforts on target (three) so far. The French champions have been sharing the responsibilities, with seven players having taken at least five shots. Kvhicha Kvaratskhelia has taken six, while both Ousmane Dembele and Ferran Torres had taken five. But the love is being spread a bit too much.
It’s a similar story for xG. Torres has accumulated 1.39 xG in Ligue 1, more than any other PSG player. But that only places him 15th in the league. And he’s the only PSG to hit at least 1.0 for xG. Ranking second for Les Parisiens is centre-back Marquinhos (0.81). Doue and Vitinha, who lead PSG for shots, have registered 0.66 and 0.32 xG respectively.
Leaky at the back
PSG aren’t offering much resolve defensively. They’re still awaiting their first clean sheet of the season across all competitions, conceding in all six games so far. In the league alone, they’ve let in two goals in all three matches and in each of their past four including last season. And this is perhaps the more worrying part of their game.
Only three teams have conceded more goals than PSG’s six in Ligue 1 this season. Les Parisiens have conceded their six league goals from just 22 shots. That’s the lowest in the league. They also rank joint-top for shots on target conceded, with just nine. But that means only three of the nine shots on target PSG have faced haven’t resulted in a goal.
The quality of the finishing has played its part. Only one team has a lower xG Conceded tally than PSG’s 2.65 in Ligue 1 this season. That increases to 3.85 post-shot xG. Only three teams have faced a bigger difference between xG and post-shot xG. So PSG’s opponents have been improving their chances of scoring based on shot placement.
But there’s still a big difference between post-shot xG conceded and goals conceded. And that’s where Matvey Safonov comes into play. The Russian has conceded 2.15 more goals than he should have based on post-shot xG, the second-worst tally of any goalkeeper in Ligue 1. Safonov has also saved just 25% of the shots on target he has faced, the lowest percentage of any goalkeeper.
Safonov has come under criticism during his time as PSG’s No.1, but Enrique has remained faithful to the Russian. It might not be long before Lucas Chevalier gets his chance, and it could be a crucial change.