5 bold predictions for the rest of the Ligue 1 season

With nearly a third of the Ligue 1 campaign in the books, a feverish fight for the title has highlighted a season rife with brilliant performances by veterans and young standouts alike.

Often maligned as a one-club league, this year's season appears a more competitive one, and with the trophy hunt developing as a three-horse race, here's a look at five bold predictions for the remainder of the Ligue 1 campaign:

Nice will mirror Lille's 2011 league-winning side

When Lille won the 2010-11 Ligue 1 title, it introduced the world to a slew of players on the verge of stardom. Among Rudi Garcia's squad were the likes Eden Hazard, Yohan Cabaye, Idrissa Gueye, Mathieu Debuchy, Gervinho, and Pape Souare, all of whom went on to enjoy success in the Premier League.

Fast forward six years and Nice's squad bares a striking resemblance to Lille's. Save for Dante and Mathieu Bodmer (both 33), Lucien Favre's lot is a young one.

Malang Sarr (17) has been a revelation, starting all 12 of the club's league matches this season at the back, Yoan Cardinale (22) has appeared a seasoned veteran in net, and Wylan Cyprien (21) has emerged as a future French international.

The exploits of the young don't end there. Vincent Koziello (21) piggybacked last season's leap with equally composed performances this season, and Jean Michael Seri (25) and Alassane Plea (23) have emerged as two of the league's most exciting young players to watch.

Nice may not have the horses to outlast Monaco and PSG, though don't be surprised if a few years on some of these names are starring for the continent's biggest sides.

Dupraz becomes next marquee managerial prospect

When Toulouse salvaged top-flight safety by the scruff of its neck last season, footage surfaced of Pascal Dupraz's impassioned speech to his players before a come-from-behind victory over Angers.

Watch: Toulouse's Dupraz delivers rousing speech before safety-securing win

Like Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool and Antonio Conte at Chelsea, Dupraz is a motivator who gets the most out of his players. When the former forward took over for Dominique Arribage in March, Les Pitchouns were in 19th place, 10 points adrift of safety.

Courtesy of five wins, three draws, and two victories over the last 10 fixtures, Dupraz led the club to a shocking 17th-place finish. Then, star goal-scorer Wissam Ben Yedder left in the summer for Sevilla, and the Haute-Garonne side appeared destined for another flirtation with relegation.

So much for that, and after a dozen matches, Dupraz and co. appear more destined for a place in Europe than Ligue 2. Danish international Martin Braithwaite and his seven goals have picked up where Ben Yedder left off and 19-year-old centre-back Issa Diop and 17-year-old shot-stopper Alban Lafont have risen to the summit of the continent's best teens.

Getting the most out of this Les Pitchouns squad is certain to get Dupraz a marquee gig when the big clubs come calling.

Monaco will win the league

After Paris Saint-Germain won its fourth Ligue 1 title on the trot by an obscene 31-point margin over Lyon, expectations were that the capital club would make it five this season.

Those assumptions have been tempered by the displays of table-topper Nice and Monaco, and for all the stunning exploits of the former, the latter arguably has a better shot at a first top-flight title since 2000.

Leonardo Jardim's squad appears an attack-minded outfit that scores in bunches. Monaco's 36 goals scored is tops among Europe's top-five leagues, and its goal differential of plus-21 is joint-best with Bayern Munich. As staggering as those returns are, no player has more than Fabinho's five, and 13 different players have scored in the league, second only to Real Madrid's 17 among the continent's top leagues.

With Thomas Lemar and Bernardo Silva starring on the wings in support of attack tandem Valere Germain and Radamel Falcao, Monaco boasts a squad that can score a variety of ways. Pair that with a midfield of breakthrough stars Fabinho and Tiemoue Bakayoko, and Monaco has no issues going forward. Lost in the all the talk of the principality's attack is the back four. Pacey full-backs Djibril Sidibe and Benjamin Mendy have proved to be sage summer signings, as has centre-back Kamil Glik.

Don't be surprised if Monaco is lifting a trophy come May.

Unai Emery gets sacked

Unai Emery was lured to the French capital on the heels of three Europa League conquests on the trot in hopes of helping PSG take the next step in Champions League, and so far, the Spaniard hasn't looked the part.

Among his bizarre decisions are the near-banishment of Kevin Trapp and the lack of squad rotation.

Trapp, who moved to PSG last summer from Eintracht Frankfurt, was not Ligue 1's best shot-stopper last season despite one-sided numbers courtesy of the club's dominance, though that doesn't necessarily merit being benched for Alphonse Arreola.

The German's standing in the squad is synonymous of a bigger issue. When Emery brought Grzegorz Krychowiak from Sevilla, it was expected that the Polish international would form a three-man midfield with Blaise Matuidi and Marco Verratti. Instead, Adrien Rabiot emerged as the club's most consistent player, and Krychowiak has played 315 minutes in the league. Inexplicably, a 35-year-old Thiago Motta - whose contract expires at season's end - has 766 minutes. That's absurd.

Should PSG continue to lag behind Nice and Monaco, expect chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi to place a few calls.

Balotelli sets a personal scoring record

With six goals in six league matches, Nice striker Mario Balotelli appears a player reborn. His play on the pitch has been dazzling, but perhaps more importantly, he's kept his nose clean off of it.

The growth in his conduct is reason enough to believe that Balotelli has finally forsaken his childish ways, and at 26 years young, there's no time like the present.

Considering that the former Azzurri international's two best league goal hauls were 14 scored in 2013-14 with AC Milan and 13 in his second campaign at Manchester City, it's realistic to assume that the forward could easily eclipse those outputs this campaign.