Bordeaux eyeing domestic treble

Bordeaux is dominating the French league to such an extent that the team is firmly intent on a clean sweep of domestic honors.

Saturday's home game against 19th-place Boulogne looks like another routine win for Bordeaux, which remains on course to win the French Cup and defend its League Cup trophy.

"We all believe we can win the treble," Bordeaux defender Mathieu Chalme said.

Bordeaux leads second-place Montpellier by eight points and is 10 clear of Lille ahead of this weekend's 22nd round of games. Bordeaux president Jean-Louis Triaud, who took a risk when he hired Laurent Blanc as a novice coach 2 1/2 years ago, has been swept along with the positive vibe.

"We can compete on all fronts, and I think the players want to do that," Triaud said after Bordeaux beat Le Mans 3-2 Tuesday to reach the League Cup quarterfinals.

Given that five of its next six matches are at Stade Chaban-Delmas - including three of the four league games - Bordeaux may open up an even bigger lead and can progress in both cup competitions.

Montpellier does not appear to hold any belief it can catch Bordeaux, which has the best home record in the league. Having signed the French second-division's top scorer Olivier Giroud from Tours this week, Montpellier loaned him straight back until the end of the season.

When it was promoted from the second division last season, Montpellier hired coach Rene Girard and president Louis Nicollin set him the target of reaching 40 points - normally enough to stay up.

Montpellier only needs to draw at home to Marseille on Saturday to achieve that initial target.

After 21 rounds, Bordeaux has 47 points, Montpellier has 39 and Lille has 37.

With its first-division status all but secured, Montpellier is building for next season.

The 23-year-old Giroud - who has 15 league goals so far - will beef up the attack, and Girard has signed Bosnia defender Emir Spahic to new four-year deal and offered better terms to young players such as winger Karim Ait-Fana.

Marseille, meanwhile, needs to beat Montpellier to maintain its hopes of catching Bordeaux. Marseille is 11 points behind Bordeaux in fourth place, but coach the team has played a game less.

The return to form of winger Hatem Ben Arfa, who looked certain to leave the club earlier this month, has given coach Didier Deschamps a welcome boost.

Long regarded as one of the brightest prospects in France, the 22-year-old Ben Arfa has struggled to live up to his reputation since breaking into the Lyon team when he was 17.

"He is making efforts to get fitter. Now it's a question of him getting games, which will help his consistency," Deschamps said. "It's up to him to keep playing well and even to improve."

Striker Mamadou Niang has also returned to form, scoring three times in the last three games.

Also Saturday, it's: Le Mans vs. Toulouse; Lille vs. Lens; Monaco vs. Nice; Nancy vs. Lorient; and Rennes vs. Grenoble.

On Sunday, Lyon plays Paris Saint-Germain at Stade Gerland, Valenciennes faces Sochaux, and Auxerre plays Saint-Etienne, which is four points above the relegation zone.

At the bottom, Grenoble has only seven points. Boulogne has 15 points and is a point behind 18th-place Le Mans.

Lyon's mini-winning streak of four games came to an end when it lost to Monaco 2-1 in the French Cup on Sunday and was then knocked out of the League Cup by Lorient 1-0 on Wednesday.

PSG is once again beset by mounting inner turmoil. The club's notorious hooligan element has started fighting again, and the fans are united against the club's chief backer, Colony Capital, which they say refuses to buy new players.

About 100 hardcore thugs from two different sections of PSG's stadium - the Kop of Boulogne section and the Auteuil section - clashed violently at Lille two weeks ago.

The feud is growing enough for the French league to consider whether to separate Boulogne and Auteuil supporters inside Lyon's stadium. This would make for the rare right of a club's away fans being segregated from each other, rather than just from the home fans.