Troyes are back in Ligue 1 and the Aube gets a point, a clean sheet and no goals at all

Troyes' first Ligue 1 match in three years was not a spectacle, and the Stade de l'Aube will not mind. A point, a clean sheet, and a reminder that survival seasons are built out of exactly this.

Paris FC had the ball — 59% of it, and 612 accurate passes at 90% — and put one shot on target with all of it.

The xG says one thing, the goalkeepers say another

The visitors finished on 1.76 expected goals to Troyes' 0.41, so the chances were there. Three saves between the two goalkeepers were all the work either of them had to do.

Troyes won six corners to two and conceded eight fouls to fourteen — a disciplined, low-event home performance from a promoted side that clearly knows what it is doing.

Troyes: a fair start that turned into three straight defeats

This clean sheet turned out to be the high point of Troyes' opening month back in the top flight, not the floor. A matchday later they won 2-1 at Lorient, Renaud Ripart converting a first-half penalty and Lucas Maronnier adding a second before Jean-Victor Makengo's reply proved too late to matter. Then the results turned: a 2-6 collapse at home to Strasbourg after leading for half an hour, a 0-2 defeat at Lille without registering a shot worth remembering, and a 0-2 loss at Angers in which they again failed to score. Three defeats in a row, without a goal in any of them, leave the side that drew here with Paris FC on four points from five matches — 16th, the spot that plays a relegation play-off against the third-placed Ligue 2 club — and the division's worst goal difference at -7.

Paris FC: still unbeaten five matchdays on

For Paris FC, the point at the Aube opened a run that still has not produced a defeat. They beat Nice 3-0 at home in matchday 2 through a Lassine Sinayoko penalty, a Samir Chergui strike and a late Vincent Marchetti goal, then won 3-2 at the Vélodrome as Sinayoko completed a hat-trick around two Amine Gouiri replies for Marseille. A second goalless draw followed at home to Lyon in matchday 4, before Ismaël Kebbal and Paul Pagis settled a 2-1 win over Strasbourg in matchday 5. Three wins and two draws from five games have Paris FC third with 11 points, two behind leaders Monaco and level with second-placed Lyon on goal difference alone — one of only three Ligue 1 clubs still unbeaten this season.

Where the table stands

The gap between the two sides that shared a goalless draw here has widened into one of the biggest in Ligue 1. Troyes' four points are level with 15th-placed Lens, but the division breaks ties on goal difference before anything else, and Troyes' -7 is the worst mark of any club in the table — only a single point now separates them from Marseille and the automatic relegation places. Paris FC, level with Lyon and just two points off top spot, sit in the Champions League places they occupied for barely a night after this very draw, when a 0-0 at home to Troyes was still enough to keep them unbeaten but nowhere near the pace Monaco set at the top.

Match facts

• No goals — the second goalless draw of matchday 1, alongside Nice v Lorient
• Troyes' first Ligue 1 fixture since 2023
• Paris FC: 612 accurate passes at 90%, one shot on target

What's next

Both sides head into the international break with very different jobs on their hands. Paris FC carry a five-match unbeaten run and a top-three spot into the pause; Troyes carry three straight defeats, eleven goals conceded and a place in the relegation play-off zone. The goalless draw that opened both campaigns looks, five matchdays later, like the one result the two clubs actually had in common.